Alfa Laval makes $698-mn bid for climate control gear maker Munters

Alfa Laval, the $3.50 billion Swedish engineering company has today made a $698 million takeover bid for indoor-climate-gear maker Munters AB to boost its air and climate solution business.

Munters, based in Sweden, is a global provider of energy efficient solutions for air treatment based on expertise within humidity and climate control technologies

Munters is organised in two divisions (continuing operations), dehumidification and humicool. Dehumidification products include complete solutions for moisture control and humicool  caters to evaporative cooling and humidification.

Nasdaq and OMX Stockholm-listed Munters has customers in several segments including the food, pharmaceuticals, and electronics industries. Munters has approximately 2,100 employees and had 2009 revenues of SEK 3.8 billion and operating profit of SEK 263 million.

Lund, Sweden-based Alfa Laval is offering SEK 68 per-share, a premium of around 30 per cent to Munters closing price of SEK 52.25 kronor on 3 September 2010.

The two main shareholders in Munters, AB Industrivärden and Investment AB Latour, who together hold approximately 29.6 per cent of the company and Lannebo Fonder, which holds approximately 4.8 per cent, have committed to accept the offer, under certain conditions.

Alfa Laval, which has made around 25 acquisitions since 2005, said that it has for some time followed Munters with its leading position in energy, food and environment, in particular in Europe and North America.

Munters offers energy-efficient solutions for air treatment in industrial processes and climate control. In total, this will strengthen Alfa Laval's leading global position on the market for heat transfer and Munters is intended to be integrated into Alfa Laval (see table at the end).

''The acquisition of Munters will complement our selection of products and gives us an increased application knowledge in air and climate solutions'', said Lars Renström, president and CEO of Alfa Laval. ''Munters is a company with strong positions that we can further develop through Alfa Laval's industrial structure and strong presence in the fast-growing markets of South America, Eastern Europe and, not the least, Asia.''

Founded in 1883, Alfa Laval is a leading global provider of products and solutions for heat transfer, separation and fluid handling.  Its products are used in the manufacturing of food, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, starch, sugar and ethanol. They are also used in power plants, aboard ships, in the mechanical engineering industry, in the mining industry and in the refinery industry, and for wastewater treatment as well as for creating a comfortable indoor climate.

Nasdaq and Stockholm-listed Alfa Laval sells it products in around 100 countries and has its own sales organisation in over half of these countries. Alfa Laval currently has approximately 12,000 employees.

The acceptance of the offer period runs from 16 September to 8 October and Munters said that its board would announce accepting or rejecting the bid offer no later than two weeks before the expiry of the acceptance period.