Nidec announces $1.6 billion unsolicited bid for Makino Milling

By Kantaro Komiya and Rocky Swift

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese manufacturing giant Nidec said on Friday it planned to launch a tender offer for Makino Milling Machine at a 42% premium to Thursday’s closing share price, with or without the target company’s approval.

Nidec said it would spend about 257 billion yen ($1.6 billion) on the bid to take Makino private, but the target’s board had not agreed to the offer of 11,000 yen per share as Nidec had not proposed the bid to Makino before the announcement.

Nidec plans to clear the regulatory processes by early April and launch the tender offer on April 4, even without Makino’s consent, it said in a statement.

Shares of Makino went untraded amid a glut of buy orders on Friday morning, while Nidec shares were up more than 1%.

Kyoto-based Nidec, the world’s top manufacturer of precision motors, is known for aggressive acquisitions led by founder Shigenobu Nagamori, including an unsolicited takeover last year of Takisawa Machine Tool in a 16.6 billion yen offer.

The Japanese government last year released M&A guidelines to spur acquisitions, including unsolicited takeovers, to promote industry consolidation.

($1 = 157.7400 yen)