Assa Abloy to acquire Cardo

STOCKHOLM—Access control giant Assa Abloy announced Dec. 13 that it had acquired 63.6 percent of shares in Cardo, a supplier of industrial doors and logistics systems and other systems. Assa Abloy also announced a cash offer to remaining Cardo shareholders of SEK 420 ($61.52) per share.

In a company announcement, Assa Abloy said it is interested in Cardo's Entrance Solutions division, which supplies industrial doors, logistics systems, garage doors, and services. “Cardo Entrance Solutions constitutes a strategically important step in developing Assa Abloy's operations within the Entrance Systems division. In total this will strengthen Assa Abloy's product offering and create a strong supplier within Entrance Automation with a wide range of products and services,” according to a company statement.

Cardo has other operations in wastewater solutions and process equipment for the pulp and paper industry, which Assa said do not fit its operations in the long term. Following the acquisition of Cardo, Assa will “analyze various alternatives, including other potential owners for these operations.”

Cardo's board of directors has unanimously recommended that shareholders accept the offer.

“The offer represents a premium of approximately 57 percent compared to Cardo's volume weighted share price on NASDAQ OMX during the last three months up to and including Dec. 10, 2010 for approximately SEK 267 [$39.11],” according to the statement.

The acceptance period for the offer is expected to begin Feb. 4 and end Feb. 25. The deal is expected to close on March 7.

Assa Abloy had a turnover of SEK 35 billion ($5.1 billion) in 2009. It is a global company, based here, with 37,000 employees. Cardo had a turnover of SEK 8.8 billion ($1.3 billion) in 2009. It is headquartered in Malmo, Sweden and has 5,300 employees.