Slovenian household appliances manufacturer Gorenje Group announced on May 24 that Hisense Luxembourg Home Appliance Holding and Hisense Luxembourg Holding have acquired a combined 22.56% in the company.

Earlier in May, Gorenje chose China's Hisense over two rival bidders to take control of the company in a strategic partnership. Hisense proposed a price of €12 per share subject to its acquisition of 50% + 1 share of Gorenje in the takeover procedure. According to STA, this deal is thus worth at least €146.5mn.

“After the acquisition, the combined company volume sales share of the major appliances market would reach 2% globally, allowing Hisense to increase its ranking from 11^th to 10^th, after Arcelik. This will pose an effective challenge to Asian competitors, including Haier and Midea, aiming to strengthen their presence in Europe,” Feng Zhang, research consultant at Euromonitor International, said.

“From a category perspective, Gorenje’s strengths in large cooking appliances and dishwashers will complement Hisense’s strengths in refrigeration, laundry and air conditioners. Gorenje’s premium Swedish brand ASKO will also be a key asset, supporting Hisense’s corporate branding premiumisation plan,” Feng Zhang added.

According to a Gorenje statement, International Finance Corporation disposed on May 22 all of its shares of the company, representing 11.8% of all Gorenje shares. After the transaction, the IFC no longer holds any ownership share in Gorenje.

In addition, Kristijan Floricic sold his shares in the Gorenje, and that after the disposal of the shares, the share of his voting rights in the company decreased to below 5% of total voting rights.

Hisense Luxembourg Holding acquired a 4.73% share of all voting rights and Hisense Luxembourg Home Appliance Holding acquired a 17.83% share of all voting rights at the company.

On May 25, Gorenje also announced it had received notification that Dutch Home Products Europe had disposed of 1,220,984 shares, representing 4.999% of all Gorenje, d. d. shares.

Gorenje Group started looking for a strategic partner officially in November last year, to support its long-term and sustainable growth and development.

Gorenje is one of the leading Slovenian exporters. The group recorded a profit of €2.5mn in Q1, up 23.5% y/y and at 31% of the 2018 target, Gorenje announced on May 10.