The deal is sealed: the heating engineer Viessmann sells its air conditioning division to Carrier Global for twelve billion euros. The US group is thus also taking over the future business with heat pumps.
The Hessian heating manufacturer Viessmann is selling its air conditioning division, including the lucrative heat pumps, to US competitor Carrier Global. This put the price at twelve billion euros. The remaining Viessmann Group will receive 80 percent of the purchase price in cash and the remaining 20 percent as a block of shares. This makes the Viessmann Group one of the largest shareholders in the US group.
The deal is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The purchase price corresponds to 13 times the operating result (Ebitda) expected for 2023, Carrier announced on Wednesday night.
Long-term guarantees for employees
Viessmann announced that both sides had agreed on long-term guarantees. Operational redundancies are excluded for three years, important locations are secured for five years and Allendorf an der Eder is set as the headquarters for ten years. 106 million euros are to be distributed to the employees of the division as a special bonus “for 106 years of success”.
Carrier relies on the triumph of the heat pump
The sale will create a “future-proof global climate champion,” said CEO Max Viessmann, who is moving into Carrier’s board of directors. “We can only successfully master the global energy transition if companies think, act and work together globally.”
Carrier boss David Gittin described the acquisition as a “game-changing opportunity”. The Viessmann climate division with 11,000 employees is crucial for the European energy transition. With the takeover, Carrier is primarily focusing on the triumph of the heat pump: the market in Europe will triple to 15 billion euros by 2027.
Good market access via installers
In the future, the US company also wants to benefit from the market access of over 75,000 installers in 25 countries who could bring Viessmann products into households. This is a great advantage over the Asian suppliers, who are leaders in the mass production of air conditioning systems, which are largely similar in construction to heat pumps.
Well-known Asian suppliers are Daikin, Mitsubishi (both Japan), Midea (China) and Samsung (Korea). But in Germany, for example, they still lack market access via installers.
Two companies with a long tradition
Alongside Bosch (Buderus) and Vaillant, Viessmann is one of the largest heating manufacturers in Germany. The climate solutions division accounts for 85 percent of sales, which rose to a record value of around four billion euros in 2022. The company, founded in 1917 from a metalworking shop, is one of the best-known German heating contractors and has so far been one of the winners of the climate change, especially in the building sector.
The company Carrier from the US state of Florida is considered the inventor of modern air conditioning and was founded in 1902. The group employs 52,000 people and earned $20.4 billion last year. North and South America accounted for 60 percent of sales.
Deal not without controversy
The deal between Viessmann and Carrier is not only viewed positively by politicians and economists in this country. Some critical voices warn that Germany is now in danger of losing the next future technology after the decline of the solar energy industry. In government circles it was said that the federal government would ensure that the energy policy and the profits from it would benefit Germany.