Acquisitions · Commercial refrigeration
Panasonic to buy refrigerated display case maker Hussmann for about $1.5 billion
- Buyer
- Panasonic (Osaka)
- Target
- Hussmann, Bridgeton, Missouri
- Value
- About ¥186.6B (about $1.5B)
- Status
- Agreed on December 21, 2015; closing was expected in April 2016.
- Date
- 2015-12-21
Panasonic agreed to buy Hussmann, a Missouri maker of refrigerated display cases for supermarkets, for about ¥186.6 billion. The sellers were private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, the majority owner, and Ingersoll Rand, which held 36.7%. Hussmann was to become a wholly owned subsidiary.
Why it matters
The deal moved Panasonic further from consumer electronics toward business-to-business products, giving it a strong position in the US, the largest market for refrigerated display cases.
Panasonic's plan
Panasonic said the deal would expand its display case and food distribution business in the US. It planned to combine Hussmann's customer relationships and service network with its own technology and products. Panasonic was targeting ¥2.5 trillion in business-to-business solutions sales in 2018, including ¥300 billion from food distribution, and President Kazuhiro Tsuga said the company was likely to make more overseas acquisitions.
Ownership history
Ingersoll Rand bought Hussmann in 2000 for $1.55 billion in cash plus $275 million of assumed debt. It put the unit up for sale in April 2011 and later that year sold a majority stake to Clayton, Dubilier & Rice for $370 million, keeping a minority holding until the Panasonic deal.
Sources
Kakehashi M&A News home
