Zoomlion drops Terex acquisition plan after disagreements

[SINGAPORE] Chinese heavy-machinery equipment maker Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co ended negotiations to purchase cranemaker Terex Corp after failing to agree on terms four months after making an unsolicited offer.

"Although the parties to the transaction have made their joint efforts to closely negotiate on the proposed transaction recently, no agreement can be reached on the crucial terms," Zoomlion said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange Friday.

In March, the US cranemaker, which had agreed last year to combine with a Finnish competitor, said it will hold talks with Zoomlion after the Chinese company raised its takeover offer. Terex shares fell 3.45 per cent to US$24.33 Thursday, giving the company a market valuation of US$2.7 billion.

Zoomlion had raised its takeover offer for the Westport, Connecticut-based company to US$31 in March, US$1 more than the unsolicited bid it made in January.

The company's shares fell 2 per cent to HK$2.45 as of the midday trading halt in Hong Kong Friday.

Zoomlion is China's second-biggest maker of construction equipment by revenue, trailing Sany Heavy Industry Co, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The US$4.3 billion company is based in the central Chinese city of Changsha, where late revolutionary leader Mao Zedong attended school.

BLOOMBERG