Schindler said it would contest any proposed merger between Kone and TK Elevator before competition authorities, according to comments from the Swiss lift maker's chief executive. Paolo Compagna characterized a potential tie-up between the two rivals as highly disruptive to the sector and indicated his company would be active in seeking regulatory reviews wherever necessary.
Bloomberg News reported last week that Kone was in talks to acquire TK Elevator. If consummated, such a deal would create the world's largest elevator manufacturer, surpassing current leader OTIS and leaving Schindler further down the ranking.
Compagna warned the combination of the third- and fourth-largest lift manufacturers would create substantial overlap across customer relationships, manufacturing footprints and staff. He used the word "bloodbath" to describe the likely competitive upheaval and said the market would need time to absorb any consolidation.
"I’m sure that we would not be the only one going and making sure that this antitrust will be checked in every possible country," Compagna said in the interview. The chief executive also noted that the company has taken the same stance toward a Kone-TK Elevator tie-up since the notion last surfaced in 2019, when Kone mounted a bid with CVC Capital Partners before being outbid.
In 2019, a consortium led by Advent International and Cinven secured TK Elevator in a transaction valued at about 17.2 billion euros, making them the current owners. Compagna said the present regulatory and market environment would be "even more challenging" now than it was at that time.
Reports have suggested the possible price tag for a new approach by Kone could reach as high as 25 billion euros. Compagna said any such deal would probably span multiple years and require significant divestitures to satisfy competition authorities.
Should regulators force asset sales as part of remedies, Schindler said it would consider acquiring divested businesses to bolster its own growth via bolt-on deals. Kone and TK Elevator did not initially respond to requests for comment on the reported discussions.
Financial detail from the reporting included a currency conversion for context: $1 = 0.8642 euros.
Separately, investor-focused tools have flagged the question of whether Kone's publicly traded units are attractive purchases today. One such service noted it evaluates KNEBV alongside thousands of other companies using a broad set of metrics, but the article does not provide an investment recommendation.