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Japan’s Daikin Industries Ltd, the world’s largest air conditioner maker, today said that it will acquire US rival Goodman Global Inc for $3.7 billion by the end of this year.
Daikin, based in Osaka city, aims to compete against rapidly growing Chinese manufacturers through the purchase of the top home-use air conditioner maker in North America.
The company is planning to obtain shares from Goodman, based in Houston, Texas, and its major shareholder Hellman & Friedman LLC, a San Francisco-based fund, with cash reserves, bond issuance proceeds and a low-interest loan from the governmental Japan Bank for International Cooperation.
Daikin first negotiated the acquisition of Goodman in 2010, but nullified the deal in the wake of the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters in Japan, which have cast shadows on the Japanese economy.
The yen’s appreciation against the US dollar has prompted the company to decide on the acquisition, according to corporate sources.
In the United States, Daikin predominantly supplies large-scale air conditioners for customers in the commercial sector, with its sales of household systems relatively limited. Goodman boasts strong sales of household air conditioners in North and Latin America.
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