New Straits Times

‘Bidders for Landis+Gyr narrows to 2’

-

LONDON/FRANKFURT: The field of prospectiv­e bidders for Japanese conglomera­te Toshiba Corp’s Swiss-based smart meter group Landis+Gyr has narrowed to two, said three banking sources on Monday.

The two — Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s private equity arm and Canada’s Onex Corp — were undertakin­g due diligence checks, said the sources.

A consortium of buyout firm CVC Capital Partners and Hitachi Ltd had withdrawn its offer, said the sources.

A first round of bids for Landis+Gyr, for which bankers are preparing debt packages of around US$1 billion (RM4.29 billion) or five to six times its US$200 million earnings before interest, tax, depreciati­on and amortisati­on, closed in May and binding offers are expected next month.

Toshiba is preparing for an initial public offering of Landis if final bids fall short of its expectatio­ns, as the Japanese firm scrambles to raise funds to cover massive losses at United States nuclear unit Westinghou­se.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Malaysia