China's Midea Group to make offer for Germany's Kuka - WSJ

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Chinese home appliances maker Midea Group <000333.SZ> is close to making an offer for German industrial robot maker Kuka AG , the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The offer could become one of the largest unsolicited approaches of a foreign company by a Chinese buyer and could value Kuka at roughly 4.4 billion euros ($4.98 billion), the paper said.

Kuka and Midea could not immediately be reached for comment.

As of Feb. 1 Midea Group holds 9.89 percent of Kuka shares, according to Thomson Reuters data and it has said that it intends to raise its stake.

 

Kuka shares ended trading in Frankfurt 12 percent higher at 97 euros.

(Reporting by Edward Taylor)