A.O.史密斯收购Pureit净水宝,扩大净水业务版图
On July 15, local time, Unilever and A.O. Smith jointly announced that the two parties had signed an agreement that A.O. Smith would acquire Pureit from Unilever at a purchase price of about $120 million in cash (equivalent to about RMB 870 million).
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Pureit is part of Unilever's home solutions business, with annual sales of about $60 million, and its key markets are mainly concentrated in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Viet Nam, Mexico and other countries and regions. In the Chinese market, Pureit is translated as "Purifying Water Treasure", but it has little market presence, and its official Weibo account has been suspended since March 2016.
In fact, the water purification business was also one of the business segments that Unilever attaches more importance to and is optimistic about. In 2014, the multinational consumer giant acquired Qinyuan Group Co., Ltd., a leading enterprise in the domestic water purification industry at the time, for more than 1.8 billion yuan.
However, with rising costs, fierce market competition and other difficulties, Unilever is also facing performance pressure. To this end, Unilever has announced that it intends to adopt an efficiency improvement plan over the next three years, starting in March 2024, which is expected to save the group 800 million euros, including layoffs and the "downsizing" of the business worldwide. Specifically, on the one hand, it will lay off 7,500 people worldwide; On the other hand, the company plans to divest its ice cream business, sell its personal care division Elida Beauty, and sell its water purification brand Pureit this year.
According to the financial report, in 2023, Unilever achieved a turnover of 59.60 billion euros, a decrease from 60.07 billion euros in the same period of the previous year, and lower than the 59.88 billion euros expected by analysts, and a net profit attributable to shareholders of 6.49 billion euros, also a decrease from 7.64 billion euros in the same period last year.
It is worth mentioning that, according to relevant people familiar with the matter, Unilever is also considering selling a majority stake in Qinyuan Group Co., Ltd., a manufacturer of water purification equipment in the Chinese market.
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Looking at the acquirer A.O. Smith, as an United States company, A.O. Smith is also continuing to expand the global layout of water treatment-related businesses. Among them, A.O. Smith attaches great importance to the development and layout of the Chinese market, and established a Chinese company in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province in 1998, and has a relatively good performance in the fields of water heaters, water purification, and heating. According to the data monitoring of Aowei cloud network, from January to June this year, A.O. Smith occupied 26.16% of the market share in the offline water purification market, ranking first.
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the establishment of A.O. Smith, and in the face of the new challenges of weak consumption and insufficient growth momentum in China's home appliance market, A.O. Smith is also strengthening its business expansion in dishwashers, kitchen appliances and even smart home appliances.
Kevin J. Wheeler, chairman and chief executive officer of A.O. Smith, said he believes the addition of Pureit will strengthen A.O. Smith's position as a global supplier of high-end water treatment products and double A.O. Smith's penetration in the South Asian market. In addition, the acquisition will enhance the product portfolio and distribution capabilities to support the company's corporate strategy.