Home Appliances Arçelik and Whirlpool Team up to Create New Appliance Brand

Arçelik and Whirlpool Team up to Create New Appliance Brand

Arçelik and Whirlpool Team up to Create New Appliance Brand

Two of Europe’s leading appliance brands Arçelik and Whirlpool have come together to create a new stand alone business in the European home appliances sector.

The deal will involve Arçelik‘s owned subsidiary Ardutch B.V and Whirlpool Corporation‘s wholly owned subsidiary Whirlpool EMEA Holdings LLC, forming a new company which will manufacture, sell, and provide after-sales services for branded home appliances.

These will include refrigerators, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, etc, from a range of Arçelik’s brands, including Grundig, Arctic, Elektrabregenz, Flavel, and Leisure, alongside Whirlpool’s existing brands of Indesit, Hotpoint*, Ignis, Privileg, and Bauknecht.

The company, which is yet to be named, will also have regional brand rights for the Beko, Blomberg and Altus brands of Arçelik and for the Whirlpool brand of Whirlpool Corporation for a period of 40 years.

The firm will combine both companies’ manufacturing expertise, European appliance brands, strong supply chains, effective distribution and sales networks, and innovative product pipelines to create additional value for their consumers by positioning the new company for growth.

It will also build upon both companies’ strong track record in, and commitment to, sustainability and innovation, providing European consumers with better access to high quality, energy-efficient and trusted lifestyle products and solutions, the statement said.

The agreement includes Whirlpool’s 38 European subsidiaries and nine production sites located in Italy, Poland, Slovakia, and the UK, as well as Arçelik’s two production facilities in Romania and 25 European subsidiaries. Together, this will result in a production capacity of approximately 24 million white good products per year.

The new business is expected to have more than 20,000 employees across multiple European countries. The combined net revenue of Arçelik and Whirlpool’s aforementioned subsidiaries is approximately €6 billion, based on the net sales of the companies’ European operations in 2021.

Both companies are expected to benefit from their complementary geographic coverage of sales channels and product portfolio, as well as from synergies arising from the combination of their European businesses, and the transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2023. This will be subject to additional requirements for closing, including obtaining regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions.

After transferring their European subsidiaries to the new company, it is expected that 75% of the newly formed company will be allocated to Ardutch B.V. and 25% to Whirlpool.

Levent Çakıroğlu, CEO of Koç Holding (Arçelik’s parent company), commented: “As the largest industrial conglomerate of Turkey, we continue to strengthen our impact with global success stories ranging from the UK to India, from South Africa to the USA. Today, Koç Group companies export to more than 150 countries. Arçelik, as a respected player in its industry, is carrying its vision and ambitions much further with this new standalone business. The opportunity for this business to deliver value to European consumers with market-leading products via trusted brands and a commitment to sustainability in the home is significant.”

Fatih Kemal Ebiçlioğlu, Consumer Durables Group President of Koç Holding, continued: “Koç Holding aims to be a global leader across all operational areas. Arçelik, a business at the forefront of its industry, is an outstanding example of a company pursuing a clear global vision within our group. I am confident that we will continue to create value for consumers, investors, and employees.”

Hakan Bulgurlu, CEO of Arçelik, added: “This is a unique opportunity for two exceptional companies to come together with a focus on synergies, combined innovation, retail distribution, and sustainability and is consistent with our stated strategy. With today’s agreement, we are creating a strong foundation to drive value creation for employees, shareholders, and European consumers of white goods, extending Arçelik’s footprint with new growth opportunities in an important region.”

Separately, the parties also agreed to sign a share purchase and sale agreement within six weeks for Whirlpool to divest its Middle East & North Africa portion (MENA) of the EMEA region to Ardutch B.V., for a cash amount of EUR 20 million, pursuant to a separate transaction. The transaction, once completed, would result in Ardutch acquiring full ownership of two further Whirlpool subsidiaries established in the United Arab Emirates and Morocco.