Kion to buy logistics tech firm Dematic in $3.25-billion deal

FRANKFURT: German forklift truck maker Kion has agreed to buy Dematic from funds managed by AEA Investors and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan in a deal valuing the logistics technology company at $3.25 billion.

The deal will create a global logistics specialist, with products ranging from manually operated trucks to fully automated warehouses, with close to 30,000 employees and more than 6.7 billion euros ($7.6 billion) of annual sales.

Excluding certain liabilities, the purchase price will come to about $2.1 billion, Kion said on Tuesday.

Kion plans to finance the transaction with a 3 billion-euro bridge loan, which it will refinance with a combination of equity from a capital increase, long-term capital markets debt and bank loans.

Major shareholder Weichai Power, which owns 38 percent of Kion, fully supports the plan to increase capital by up to 10 percent, Kion said.

The transaction is expected to close in the course of the fourth quarter, it said.