Deals
Showa Denko Unveils $8.8 Billion Deal for Hitachi Chemical
- Record purchase would boost car battery, materials business
- Acquisition to be financed with loans, preferred share sales
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Showa Denko K.K., Japan’s No. 3 diversified chemicals supplier, agreed to pay more than double its own market value to buy its bigger rival Hitachi Chemical Co., to scale up its lithium-ion battery and advanced materials businesses and keep pace with Chinese rivals.
Tokyo-based Showa Denko offered as much as 964 billion yen ($8.8 billion) for all shares of the chemicals unit of Hitachi Ltd., one of Japan’s largest industrial conglomerates, it said in a statement Wednesday. The tender offer will start around February at 4,630 yen a share, the company said. That’s 34% higher than the closing price Nov. 25, the day before talks between the two companies were reported.