Emerson Wins Battle for Chloride

The board of directors of Chloride Group has approved Emerson Electric's revised $1.5 billion takeover offer, and says it will recommend that Chloride shareholders tender their shares at the deal price of 375 pence, the companies said Friday. The deal appears to end a bidding war for the UK-based critical power vendor, with Emerson prevailing over a rival offer from ABB.

Both Emerson and Chloride are major providers of electrical infrastructure for data centers. Emerson said said it believes a combination with Chloride will “create a powerful force in the global UPS.” Emerson says that Chloride will serve as the company's new European Network Power Systems headquarters and Chloride will form the basis for Emerson’s European UPS growth strategy.

Emerson also said it has acquired 19 percent of the shares of Chloride Group through open market purchases. Emerson said that its subsidiary Rutherfurd Acquisition bought 49.9 million shares of Chloride on Friday, July 2 at a price of 378.3 pence per share.

The bidding war appears to provide a great outcome for Chloride shareholders, as the latest Emerson offer represents a 79 percent premium to where shares were trading when Chloride was put in play in April. Emerson has posted a web page offering detailed information on its offer for Chloride.