Japan's Nidec targets Makino Milling in $1.6 billion unsolicited bid

By Kantaro Komiya and Rocky Swift

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese manufacturing giant Nidec said on Friday it planned to launch a 257 billion yen ($1.6 billion) bid for Makino Milling Machine, a surprise unsolicited takeover offer in a country better known for agreed deals.

Nidec said the target's board had not agreed to the offer of 11,000 yen per share, a 42% premium to Thursday's closing share price, as Nidec had not proposed the bid to Makino before the announcement.

Nidec, the world's top manufacturer of precision motors, plans to clear regulatory processes by early April and launch the tender offer on April 4, even without Makino's consent, it said in a statement. A Makino spokesperson declined to comment.

Shares of Makino went untraded amid a glut of buy orders, while Nidec's shares surged as much as 5.3%.

"The deal looks like a rare win-win," said Mike Allen, an equity research director for Tokyo-based Azabu Research. "The price-to-book ratio for Makino is very low but return on equity is consistently below 6%, so they need to create synergies. Nidec is also dirt cheap."

"Insiders' control of Makino is very low, so this can easily work," he added.

Kyoto-based Nidec, led by founder Shigenobu Nagamori, has backed Japanese guidelines issued last year to promote more mergers and acquisitions and remove a long-held stigma around unsolicited bids.

Nidec last year acquired Takisawa Machine Tool after making a 16.6 billion yen unsolicited takeover offer. Nagamori told the Nikkei newspaper this month that Nidec was on the hunt for a purchase as big as 1 trillion yen and was eyeing three potential targets in Europe and the United States.  



Makino would be Nidec's largest acquisition to date, according to LSEG data, eclipsing its $1.2 billion takeover of France-based motor maker Leroy-Somer in 2016.

($1 = 157.7400 yen)

Source: Investing.com