Whirlpool Corporation announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Whirlpool Italia Holdings S.r.l., acquired a 56 percent stake in Indesit Company S.p.A., representing 61.9 percent of the voting stock of Indesit. Whirlpool acquired the shares under two share purchase agreements entered into on July 10 with Fineldo S.p.A. and members of the Merloni family. The acquisitions bring Whirlpool’s stake in Indesit to 60.4 percent, representing 66.8 percent of the voting stock.
Indesit Ukraine LLC, with operations representing approximately three percent of Indesit’s 2013 revenues, will be held separately pending antitrust clearance by the Ukrainian antitrust authority, which is expected to be obtained by the end of the year.
“We believe consumers will benefit from our combined technology leadership, investments in innovation and a broad offering of products for their homes”, said Marc Bitzer, president of North America and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) for Whirlpool Corporation. “This also is an exciting opportunity for our trade customers, given the complementary market positions, product offerings and distribution channels of Whirlpool and Indesit throughout Europe”.
