Giuseppe Sandro Mela.
2018-12-02.
Questo è quanto accadde nel 2016.
«The German government has given the green light to a planned sale of robotics firm Kuka to Chinese appliance maker Midea, saying the controversial takeover doesn’t hurt Germany’s national interests»
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«A spokesman for the German Economics Ministry said on Wednesday that the ministry wouldn’t launch a formal probe under German export laws into the planned sale. An initial study had produced no evidence the takeover would threaten “the security and the public order of Germany,”»
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«Economics Minister Sigmar Gabriel would seek to initiate a public debate about how “Europe’s open societies” would deal with unfair competition in future»
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«Chinese appliance giant Midea has secured a stake of more than 90 percent in the German industrial robotics supplier Kuka, with a multi-billion-euro offer that stoked controversy in Europe. Midea offered 115 euros ($130) per share for Kuka, valuing the firm at 4.6 billion euros – a premium of nearly 60 percent»
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«Beijing has pushed Chinese companies to “go out” and invest in foreign targets to increase their technological capabilities and seek new markets as economic growth slows at home»
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«But the Kuka deal has raised concerns in Europe about the transfer of high-end technology to a Chinese company which has so far been known only for selling washing machines and air conditioners»
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«Some officials in Brussels and Berlin were reported to oppose a Chinese takeover of the firm»
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Questo è invece quello
che è accaduto di questi giorni.
«Till Reuter, CEO of German industrial robotics firm Kuka for the last 10 years, will step down next month. The surprise move suggests big changes are afoot at the high-tech manufacturer, in Chinese hands since 2016»
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«When the Chinese home appliance maker Midea took over German “Industry 4.0” darling Kuka in 2016, business angst in Europe’s economic powerhouse was palpable»
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«As a cutting-edge German robotics firm, Kuka was precisely the kind of high-end European manufacturing company that many felt should not be sold off to the Chinese and their growing ambitions in the world of automation»
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«Teutonic teeth were gnashed all the way to the top of German government, but despite calls to intervene, Chancellor Angela Merkel did not do so and the takeover went through serenely.»
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«However, Monday’s news that Kuka CEO Till Reuter is to step down in December 2018, several years earlier than expected, suggests that the pace of change at the company is going to increase significantly in 2019»
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«Reuter said in 2017 that Kuka’s biggest goal was to become “number one in China,” an industrial market with arguably the biggest robotics potential»
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«However, Kuka has had its problems over the past two years. Growth has been sluggish and a fall in orders led the company, which employs more than 14,000 people across its multiple divisions, to downgrade its 2018 sales forecast from €3.5 billion to €3.3 billion. The value of Kuka shares has fallen by more than 50 percent in the last year»
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«existing struggles to meet high levels of demand quickly enough, have put the company under pressure.»
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«That was that the sale of such an innovative company to China was effectively a loss of intellectual property and high-tech know-how into Chinese hands and heads, something which would make German ambitions to become a world-leader in so-called Industry 4.0 innovation all the more challenging»
