Surprising move just weeks after Electrolux walked away.
General Electric Co will sell its appliance business to China’s Haier Group for US$5.4 billion in cash, as the company divests its non-core assets to reshape itself as a technology company.
The deal comes just weeks after GE walked away from a deal to sell the business to Sweden’s Electrolux for US$3.3 billion, following months of opposition from US antitrust regulators.
GE said the deal values the appliance business at 10 times last 12 months earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA). Whirlpool Corp is valued at 7.7 times.
For Haier, (which owns Fisher & Paykel) the deal means ownership of a century-old appliance business that makes refrigerators, freezers, clothes washers and dryers across brands such as Monogram, Café, Profile and Artistry. The business trails only Whirlpool Corp in the US whitegoods market and reported revenue of $5.9 billion last year.
The deal, Haier’s biggest ever, will give a big boost to its US business, which held less than 5% of the market last year.
The company has been mostly present in the highly competitive, so-called “value segment” of the US market and analysts expressed concern about the impact its bigger presence would have on the pricing dynamics.
“Even if Haier doesn’t have a history of dumping prices in the US, as for example LG and Samsung has, this is still an unknown player, a Chinese player,” DNB Bank ASA analyst Christer Magnergard told Reuters.
“(Haier) may have a somewhat different agenda than just having high profitability in the United States in 2016.”
Haier said the transaction includes GE Appliances’ 48.4% stake in Mabe, a Mexican appliance company that has a joint venture and a sourcing relationship with the business for 28 years.
The deal will be subject to customary regulatory filings in China and antitrust approvals in the United States, Mexico and Argentina, said a person authorized to speak on behalf of Qingdao Haier Co Ltd, the Haier unit making the purchase.
The deal is also to be approved by shareholders of Qingdao Haier as well as KKR and Haier Group, who jointly own 50.8% of the company.
Haier will continue to use the GE Appliances brand and retain the business’s headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky and its current management team, the companies said.
GE said earlier this week it would shift its headquarters to Boston, a move aimed at lowering its tax bill and tapping talent in city that is fast becoming a tech hub.