ABB to buy Chloride Group

ABB has announced a recommended offer to acquire UK-based Chloride Group to help to meet the growing demand for uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs).

The boards of directors of both companies have agreed on a recommended offer price of 325 pence per share, valuing the business at approximately 860 million pounds. Chloride employs about 2500 people and had revenues of 336 million pounds in its last fiscal year.

“The combination of Chloride’s strong position in the fast-growing medium- to high-power UPS business with ABB’s global reach and complementary power and automation offering provides significant growth opportunities for both businesses,” said Joe Hogan, ABB’s CEO. “The transaction is in line with our strategy to acquire companies especially in areas where demand is converging across both of these businesses.”

Chloride’s UPS offering is used in applications where power quality and security are critically important. This includes ABB’s traditional utilities and industrial customer base such as the oil, gas and petrochemicals industry as well as new sectors in service industries such as data centres, financial institutions, hospitals and airports.

With the integration of Chloride, ABB would be able to offer a broad package of power quality, security and related service solutions.