The New Zealand Herald has reported that US private equity company Texas Pacific Group had a casual look at buying a stake in Fisher & Paykel Appliances but was not the main rival to Chinese manufacturer Haier.
The whitegoods maker confirmed last week that Haier would buy a 20 per cent stake through a placement and $189 million capital raising.
Haier have already paid $46 million in cash to secure an initial 16.67 per cent share in Fisher & Paykel. That stake is expected to be increased to 20 per cent through a one-for-one rights issue at 41c a right.
However last week Fisher & Paykel chief executive John Bongard said Haier was not the only party interested in being a cornerstone investor.
But he would not name the other party, only confirming that it was not US appliance manufacturer Whirlpool.
Prime Minister John Key has said he was approached by US private equity firm Texas Pacific Group (TPG).
But the NZ Herald understands TPG was not the other main party. TPG is thought to have had a look at the business several months ago and decided not to mount a bid.
The other party is understood to also have had links to Haier.
But we would point to Arcelik, which owns the Beko brand in the UK, as being a potential partner as F&P already buy front loading washing machine products from them for the Australian and New Zealand markets. So, to us that would make sense as a strategic fit if Whirlpool shied away from some sort of deal.
But, in the current climate, it may well have been a case of F&P taking what they could get which perhaps was not exactly what they wanted.