The Mannesmann supervisory board has agreed to sell Atecs, the engineering and automotive division which includes crane manufacturer Mannesmann Dematic, to Siemens/Robert Bosch. According to the Financial Times, the agreed price is E9.6bn ($9.18bn).
The Siemens/Bosch offer was chosen in preference to a bid from Thyssen Krupp. The planned initial public offering of Mannesmann Atecs shares, which was to have taken place in June, will not now go ahead.
Mannesmann believes that the Siemens/Bosch offer represents the best way to safeguard jobs and the future of the company. With a joint venture already agreed between Mannesmann VDO and Siemens in the automotive business, speculation in the crane industry now focuses on whether Dematic will seek to strike a similar deal in the crane industry.