Haier undecided on Maytag bid
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-05 19:05

Haier Group, China's biggest home appliance maker, said Tuesday it is still interested in making an offer for larger U.S. rival Maytag, but has not yet decided on whether to make a formal bid.

"Haier Group is very interested in the matter of acquiring Maytag, but up until now has not made any decision regarding the matter of an acquisition," Haier said in a statement sent to Reuters.

The statement was Haier's first since its group, which includes Blackstone Capital and Bain Capital Partners, expressed interest last month in a potential $1.28 billion bid for Maytag, maker of its own brand washers and Hoover vacuums.

The Haier group said it expected due diligence before any formal offer would take six to eight weeks, which would take until early to the middle of August.

The group expressed its interest shortly before the expiration of a period for rival offers to a $1.13 billion bid by private equity giant Ripplewood, whose group includes Goldman Sachs (Research)' GS Capital Partners and J. Rothschild Group.

The Haier group's entry into the picture prompted Ripplewood last week to threaten to withdraw its offer to buy the struggling U.S. appliance maker, and to push for a quick resolution of the matter.

However, Jack Huang, a mergers and acquisitions specialist at law firm Jones Day, said Ripplewood's tactics were not unusual for a contested sale of a major company like Maytag, and are probably designed to stop a bidding war.

"Ripplewood is trying to prevent (a bidding war) from happening by trying to get a message to Maytag, saying, 'I gave you a bid that was pretty decent... so I'm not going to go into this escalation game. You have to choose,"' said Huang, who heads up Jones Day's Greater China practice.

A Haier purchase of Maytag would give the Chinese firm -- already a household name in its home market -- instant brand recognition in overseas markets.

Haier, whose publicly traded units include Hong Kong-listed Haier Electronics Group and China-listed Qingdao Haier Refrigerator Co., is one of only a few Chinese companies to enjoy a limited degree of success outside its home market.

Even so, its inroads into markets like the United States have been confined largely to mini-fridges and wine coolers, with bigger products like washing machines and air conditioners enjoying less progress.

Maytag, meantime, is a former U.S. industry giant that has fallen on hard times due to higher material costs and reliance on manufacturing in the U.S. market where labor costs are high.

Maytag shares jumped after interest from the Haier group was first announced and now trade near the $16 mark, or the level of the preliminary offer indicated by the Haier group.

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