Top Chinese appliance maker Haier and private equity giants Bain and Blackstone have bid $1.28 billion for Maytag Corp., trumping Ripplewood’s offer for the ailing U.S. corporation.
Haier’s global ambitions would be boosted with the addition of Maytag, the maker of washing machines and Hoover vacuums that has fallen on tough times amid rising costs and competition from low-cost makers.
Maytag said in a statement released late on Monday in New York that it had received a preliminary bid of $16 a share from a consortium comprising Haier Group, Bain Capital and The Blackstone Group.
That would be about 14 percent higher than a $14 per share offer by U.S. buyout firm Ripplewood Holdings LLC., part of a consortium whose members include Goldman Sach’s GS Capital Partners and the J. Rothschild Group.
Under the Haier proposal, due diligence is expected to take six to eight weeks to complete, Maytag said in its statement. The group would look to Merrill Lynch to provide debt financing, it added.
No official counter offer had been submitted yet, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. Bain and Blackstone declined comment. Haier has said it was interested in Maytag, but a spokeswoman would not comment further on Tuesday.