Last May, Germany based Thyssenkrupp decided to divide itself into two separate companies as part of a major restructuring effort. That strategy called for spinning off its profitable Elevator Technology business unit via an Initial Public Offering or by putting that unit up for sale.
Elevator Technology, in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2019, generated 907 million Euro (US$1 billion) in cash flow from 7.96 billion Euro in net sales, both up around 5% from the previous year. Thyssenkrupp’s total revenue, just under 42 billion Euro, was up only 1%, and the company reported a 260 million Euro net loss on top of a 12 million Euro loss the previous fiscal year.
Thyssenkrupp, as a corporation, is also groaning under 8.5 billion Euro in pension obligations and 5.1 billion Euro in net debt.
The Elevator Technology unit—which made waves a few years ago with MULTI, the industry’s first sideways-moving elevator transport system—has since drawn interest from at least four investor groups, including one that includes Finnish engineering firm Kone Oyj and CVC Capital Partners, which last week reportedly made a non-binding offer of 17 billion Euro. Bloomberg reports that Kone gave Thyssenkrupp the option of receiving all cash or a combination of cash and stock for the elevator business. And to mollify regulators over any antitrust issues, Kone said it would hand the Elevator Technology operations in Europe to CVC.
Last year, regulators scotched Thyssenkrupp’s attempt to forge a joint venture between its Steel Europe business unit and Tata Steel Ltd.
Last November, Reuters reported that Kone proposed paying Thyssenkrupp a multibillion-euro breakup fee (reportedly the equivalent of US$3.3 billion) to improve its position in the company’s auction of its elevator unit.
The other investor groups vying to acquire Thyssenkrupp’s Elevator Technology unit reportedly include a consortium of Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group, and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Advent International, Cinven and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority form another investor group. And Brookfield Asset Management partnered with Temasek Holdings Pte to bid. These offers reportedly were all under 16 billion Euro, but suitors will have the opportunity to adjust their bids next month.
Thyssenkrupp has also disclosed that it plans to put its plant-building unit—which makes chemicals, cement, and fertilizer plants—on the auction block, possibly selling the division in parts.
Related Stories
| Oct 13, 2010
Prefab Trailblazer
The $137 million, 12-story, 500,000-sf Miami Valley Hospital cardiac center, Dayton, Ohio, is the first major hospital project in the U.S. to have made extensive use of prefabricated components in its design and construction.
| Oct 13, 2010
Community center under way in NYC seeks LEED Platinum
A curving, 550-foot-long glass arcade dubbed the “Wall of Light” is the standout architectural and sustainable feature of the Battery Park City Community Center, a 60,000-sf complex located in a two-tower residential Lower Manhattan complex. Hanrahan Meyers Architects designed the glass arcade to act as a passive energy system, bringing natural light into all interior spaces.
| Oct 12, 2010
Guardian Building, Detroit, Mich.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Special Recognition. The relocation and consolidation of hundreds of employees from seven departments of Wayne County, Mich., into the historic Guardian Building in downtown Detroit is a refreshing tale of smart government planning and clever financial management that will benefit taxpayers in the economically distressed region for years to come.
| Oct 12, 2010
Owen Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Officials at Michigan State University’s East Lansing Campus were concerned that Owen Hall, a mid-20th-century residence facility, was no longer attracting much interest from its target audience, graduate and international students.
| Oct 12, 2010
Gartner Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Art
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Gartner Auditorium was originally designed by Marcel Breuer and completed, in 1971, as part of his Education Wing at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Despite that lofty provenance, the Gartner was never a perfect music venue.
| Oct 12, 2010
Cell and Genome Sciences Building, Farmington, Conn.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Administrators at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington didn’t think much of the 1970s building they planned to turn into the school’s Cell and Genome Sciences Building. It’s not that the former toxicology research facility was in such terrible shape, but the 117,800-sf structure had almost no windows and its interior was dark and chopped up.
| Oct 12, 2010
Full Steam Ahead for Sustainable Power Plant
An innovative restoration turns a historic but inoperable coal-burning steam plant into a modern, energy-efficient marvel at Duke University.
| Oct 11, 2010
HGA wins 25-Year Award from AIA Minnesota
HGA Architects and Engineers won a 25-Year Award from AIA Minnesota for the Willow Lake Laboratory.
| Oct 11, 2010
MBMA Releases Fire Resistance Design Guide for metal building systems
The Metal Building Manufacturers Association (MBMA) announces the release of the 2010 Fire Resistance Design Guide for Metal Building Systems. The guide provides building owners, architects, engineers, specifiers, fire marshals, building code officials, contractors, product vendors, builders and metal building manufacturers information on how to effectively meet fire resistance requirements of a project with metal building systems.
| Oct 6, 2010
Windows Keep Green Goals in View
The DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory has almost 600 window openings, and yet it's targeting LEED Platinum, net-zero energy use, and 50% improvement over ASHRAE 90.1. How the window ‘problem’ is part of the solution.