The deal is part of Hitachi’s ongoing strategy to de-emphasize lines of business outside its core focus of information technology.
Hitachi announced last month that it would sell 60% of its home-appliances business to Turkish appliance giant Arçelik for $300 million. With the sale, Hitachi aims to expand sales of home appliances—currently 80% domestic—into Europe, Africa and elsewhere in Asia, where Arçelik has a strong and growing presence.
The deal is part of Hitachi’s ongoing strategy to de-emphasize lines of business outside its core focus of information technology. In November, the Japanese conglomerate started accepting bids for its 53% stake in Hitachi Metals, a listed unit that supplies the defense industry. In October, Hitachi said it would sell part of its stake in another subsidiary, Hitachi Construction Machinery, which makes automatic driving systems used in construction machinery.
For Arçelik, which is part of the Turkish industrial conglomerate Koç Group, the deal is part of a similar strategy to spread its wings globally—in this case, to diversify outside the shrinking Turkish economy. It follows the March 2019 acquisition of a 57% stake in Singer Bangladesh, an appliance retailer and TV and refrigerator manufacturer, and an earlier series of deals focused on expanding the Turkish company’s reach in Asia.
