Daikin to announce Goodman Global purchase Wednesday: Daikin source
Tue, Aug 28 2012
NEW YORK | Tue Aug 28, 2012 7:30pm EDT
(Reuters) - Japan's Daikin Industries Ltd (6367.T), the world's second-largest maker of air conditioners, has agreed to buy U.S. rival Goodman Global Inc from private equity firm Hellman & Friedman in a deal worth about 300 billion yen ($3.82 billion), according to a source familiar with the matter.
San Francisco-based Hellman & Friedman bought Goodman Global in October 2007 for $1.8 billion in cash, including $1.1 billion of its own capital. The transaction also included assumed debt and other financing for a total of $2.65 billion.
Hellman & Friedman declined to comment. Daikin could not immediately be reached for comment.
Daikin said in April 2011 that it had been pursuing Goodman but takeover talks were on hold due to Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami. In January, Daikin reaffirmed that it was still interested in buying Goodman, but talks on a potential deal were on hold due to uncertainty over the global economy.
A deal would come more than two years after Goodman Global filed for an initial public offering in May of 2010. The company withdrew its IPO registration later that year, and a source at that time said it had explored a possible sale to Daikin and other potential buyers.
The deal marks a major push into the Americas for a company that was forecast to generate fewer than 10 percent of its projected 2012 air conditioning sales in the Americas, according to a May company presentation.
The Americas are the second-biggest market, behind Japan, for a Daikin business that provides refrigerants.
Daikin, which took over Malaysian-based O.Y.L. in 2006, has touted its ambition to become the world's biggest player in the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning sector (HVAC).
The company competes in a crowded field of providers of heating and cooling technology for residential and commercial use. Rivals include United Technologies' Carrier unit (UTX.N), Johnson Controls' (JCI.N) York, Lennox International (LII.N), and Ingersoll Rand Plc's (IR.N) Trane brand.
News of the deal was first reported by Nikkei.
($1 = $78.5000 Japanese yen)
(Reporting by Michael Erman, additional reporting by Soyoung Kim and Nick Zieminski,; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Richard Chang)
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