Home appliances global leader Haier (Qingdao, Shandong / China; www.haier.net) has acquired its smaller competitor, Candy (Brugherio / Italy; www.candy-group.com), for EUR 475m. The company, whose majority share is currently owned by the Fumagalli family, is one of the last large manufacturers of electric appliances in Italy.

In 2013, Whirlpool (Benton Harbor, Michigan / USA; www.whirlpool.com) took over Indesit (Fabriano / Italy; www.indesitcompany.com), which was experiencing financial difficulties – see Plasteurope.com of 16.07.2014. SMEG (Guastalla / Italy; www.smeg.com) is therefore the industry’s last remaining company in Italy.

The acquisition of Candy is subject to the approval of antitrust authorities and expected to be finalised in spring 2019. Upon completion of the purchase, Haier reportedly plans to move its European headquarters, formerly in Paris, to Candy’s current headquarters location in Brugherio.

In 2017, Candy recorded sales of EUR 1.15 bn and an EBIT of EUR 44m through the sale of washing machines and refrigerators, including those of the "Hoover" brand. However, said margin, combined with a net profit of only EUR 2.2m, does not indicate a particularly robust financial performance. Furthermore, 80% of its revenues are generated outside of Italy but within the EU. The company operates six plants and sales offices in Europe and Asia, with approximately 6,000 employees. In 2017, Candy added a new production plant in Turkey.

Haier is extending its leading position on the global market. Notably, the Chinese group generated revenues of just under EUR 32.5 bn in 2017. Currently under discussion are the possibility of an IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and investments accounting for more than EUR 800m within the next four years.

This underlines the Chinese company’s growth plans, which already acquired the home appliance segment of General Electric (Fairfield, Connecticut / USA; www.ge.com) in 2016 – see Plasteurope.com of 14.06.2016 – and recently posted a bid for Gorenje (Velenje / Slovenia; www.gorenje.com). The Slovenian company was ultimately awarded to competitor Hisense (Qingdao, Shandong; www.hisense.com) – see Plasteurope.com of 24.05.2018.