Two major Chinese household electric appliance companies, MD Group and Rongshida Group, have jointly announced that MD is now the controlling shareholder Rongshida after acquiring 50.5 percent of the company’s stock rights.
Rongshida was jointly set up by Rongshida Group and Maytag of the United States 8 years ago, but its performance has not been as good as expected. MD Group acquired Maytag Investment Company in the Netherlands and Singapore in May of this year, and it also acquired all of Maytag’s stock rights in Rongshida for a negotiated price of U.S. $12.5 million.
After the acquisition, MD Group decided to orientate the joint venture as an important operation platform of Rongshida Group and MD Group in washing machine and refrigerator production. Both sides agreed upon the continuity of Rongshida brand in the washing machine and refrigerator markets.
MD plans to invest 1.5 billion yuan (approx. U.S. $181 million) in the coming 3 to 5 years to expand the annual refrigerator production capacity to 3 million units and washing machine production capacity to 5 million units, said He Xiangjian, broad chairman and CEO of MD Group. (XIC)