Deals

Hitachi to Buy ABB's Power Grids Business for $6.4 Billion

Japanese conglomerate will acquire 80.1 percent stake in unit
ABB plans to return proceeds to shareholders through buybacks

This Is a Very Good Transaction, Says ABB's CEO(Source: Bloomberg)

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By Aaron Kirchfeld, Mara Bernath, and Kiyotaka Matsuda

December 17, 2018 at 6:05 AM UTC

Updated on

December 17, 2018 at 9:54 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Hitachi Ltd.’s takeover of ABB Ltd.’s power grid division for about $6.4 billion would be the Japanese conglomerate’s biggest-ever deal as it shifts focus from nuclear plants to the higher-growth market for electricity networks.

Hitachi agreed to acquire 80.1 percent of a business with an enterprise value including net debt of $11 billion, it said in a statement Monday. ABB will keep the remaining stake and plans to return as much as $7.8 billion to investors through a buyback or other measures.