The boss is supposed to be on vacation, and I'll be driving the blogging machine for a few days, but, on the other hand, I keep getting emails from him. (Walt. are you listening? Go on vacation already!) so you may be hearing from him as well.
Anyway, news came this morning via a Twitter link to a story in the Financial Times that the deal for ABB to acquire U.K. maker of uninterruptible power supplies, Chloride, may be coming apart. Emerson has upped the ante with a bid of 375p per share (that's about 997 million pounds). ABB had offered 325p per share. The question now is whether ABB will respond with a counteroffer. According to the article, Chloride has turned down a couple of previous offers from Emerson, and ABB is sitting on a boatload (i.e., $7 billion) in cash some of which it would like to spend in acquisitions. The Chloride acquisition was also supposed to be ABB's entry into the uninterruptible power supply market, and Emerson's bid is seen as an attempt to prevent that.
ABB has 48 hours to respond. Don't miss the next exciting episode.
