China's Shandong Heavy Industries may announce a deal to buy a 25 percent stake in Germany's Kion Group for between 700 million euros ($876.9 million) and 750 million as soon as Monday, two sources familiar with the matter said.
Shandong would gain access to Kion's enhanced hydrostatic drive systems, as well as its technology for fuel-cell hybrid trucks and electric drives for small and heavy forklift trucks.
Wiesbaden-based Kion, in turn, would gain better access to China, a massive potential market.
Shandong Heavy is set to take a 25 percent stake via a capital increase, a step to help the German maker of forklift trucks bring down its debt.
Shandong Heavy has been in talks with Kion's owners, the private-equity arm of Goldman Sachs and buyout firm KKR , for quite some time, the sources said.
Kion, its two owners and Shandong declined to comment on the matter.
Germany-based Kion Group is the world's second-largest fork lift truck maker after Toyota industries, with annual sales of 4.4 billion euros with brands including Linde, OM Still, Fenwick, Baoli and Voltas.
This article is copyrighted by Reuters
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