Robot revolution: China's Midea bids $5.2b for Germany's Kuka

Shenzhen-listed Midea is looking to apply German technology to China’s growing struggle with rising labour costs and an ageing population.

China faces surging labour costs and an ageing population one answer is to bring in the machines. 

China's biggest home-appliance maker said on Wednesday that it intended to launch a takeover bid for Germany's Kuka at 115 per share in cash. The proposed offer by Shenzhen-listed Midea, which already owns a 13.5% stake in Kuka, values the German robotics firm at about 4.6 billion $5.2 billion. 

Augsburg-headquartered Kuka, which counts car makers BMW and Audi among its clients, is already plugged into the fast-growing Chinese robotics market, having opened a plant in Shanghai in 2014. Its stated aim is to grow its...

¬ Haymarket Media Limited. All rights reserved.

FinanceAsia has updated its subscription model.

Registered readers now have the opportunity to read 5 articles from our award-winning website for free.

To obtain unlimited access to our award-winning exclusive news and analysis, we offer subscription packages, including single user, team subscription (2-5 users), or office-wide licences.

To help you and your colleagues access our proprietary content, please contact us at [email protected], or +(852) 2122 5222

Article limit is reached.

Hello! You have used up all of your free articles on FinanceAsia.

To obtain unlimited access to our award-winning exclusive news and analysis, we offer subscription packages, including single user, team subscription (2-5 users), or office-wide licences. To help you and your colleagues access our proprietary content, please contact us at [email protected], or +(852) 2122 5222