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Copenhagen / AFP
Bang & Olufsen, the Danish maker of upmarket consumer electronics, said that it had ended takeover talks with a Hong Kong investor after the expiry of a deadline for a bid.
The Danish group said its board of directors had been given several deadlines, the last of which was on Friday, during its takeover talks with China-based billionaire Qi Jianhong’s holding company Sparkle Roll.
“As Sparkle Roll has not committed to launch a tender offer for all shares in Bang & Olufsen and has not been able to substantiate its ability to launch such a tender offer, Bang & Olufsen’s board of directors has decided to inform Sparkle Roll that it considers the dialogue regarding a potential tender offer terminated,” it said in a statement.
Bang & Olufsen said in November that it was in talks over a potential takeover offer, and in March Qi revealed that he was interested in buying the company for a ‘reasonable’ price.
Last week he bought a 13.1-percent stake in the group, taking his total holding to 18.7 percent when combined with the stake of another company he controls.
The maker of upmarket sound systems and televisions, founded in 1925 and known for its clean Nordic designs, has posted annual losses over the past three years as more people listen to music on mobile devices.
To cut costs, it entered an agreement last month to outsource the production of its television screens to South Korea’s LG Electronics.
Bang & Olufsen is a Danish consumer electronics company that designs and manufactures audio products, television sets, and telephones.
It was founded in 1925 by Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen, whose first significant product was a radio that worked with alternating current at a time when most radios were run on batteries. In 2004, the company opened a factory in the Czech Republic.
where it employs approximately 250 staff producing mainly audio products.