So it's all over, and the Americans have won. No, not Group C of the World Cup but the bid battle for Chloride.
Swiss group ABB has today pulled out of the contest after US rival Emerson Electric raised its offer for Chloride to 375p a share on Tuesday. The Emerson offer values Chloride at £997m and tops the 325p put on the table by ABB. And it is way ahead of Emerson's initial pitch of 275p a share.
ABB said it had decided not to match the Emerson offer despite seeing considerable value in combining the two companies. ABB chief executive Joe Hogan said his company had to "take a disciplined approach when assessing potential acquisitions."
Chloride had already accepted ABB's bid, but now says it will begin talks with Emerson. The bid was seen as important for both sides, with ABB keen to move into $8bn a year uninterruptable power supply market where it has little presence. For Emerson, the takeover of Chloride would boost its own business, but it also means a new competitor in the form of ABB will not now emerge.
With ABB seemingly giving such strategic importance to taking over Chloride, many analysts and investors had expected it to come back with a higher offer, and the Chloride share price had climbed above the Emerson offer price on that basis. But today's news that ABB is walking away has - not surprisingly - sent Chloride shares down 16.2p to 369.8p.
