Whirlpool Offers to Buy Maytag for $1.62B
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Whirlpool Corp. (WPL) offered to buy fellow appliance maker Maytag Corp. (MYG) for $1.62 billion in cash and stock on Monday, plus assumed debt, offering a 43 percent premium to a rival bid by investment firm Triton Acquisition Holding Co (search).
Whirlpool's offer — which equals $20 per share in cash and stock — increases its tentative bid by $2 per share. The company plans to assume $977 million in debt as part of the deal, for a total transaction of $2.6 billion.
The bid comes a day ahead of a deadline agreed on by the two companies for Whirlpool to make a firm proposal.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Triton has offered $14 per share, or about $1.13 billion. Maytag shareholders are scheduled to vote on that offer at 10:30 a.m. on Aug. 19.
Whirlpool said its bid will expire at 5 p.m. on Aug. 20. The offer includes a commitment to pay a "reverse breakup fee" of $120 million if regulators do not approve the combination, along with $15 million to retain Maytag employees.
The company said it will pay 50 percent of the purchase price in cash and the remainder in stock.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Whirlpool, the country's largest appliance maker, previously had said it was planning to offer around $18 a share, or $1.43 billion.
Maytag shares rose $1.52, or 8.9 percent, to $18.50 on the New York Stock Exchange (search). The stock has traded in a range of $9.21 to $21.39 in the past 52 weeks. Shares of Whirlpool rose $2.78, or 3.5 percent, to $82.49 on the NYSE.