Thyssen Nears Elevator Sale as Blackstone Vies With Advent

(Bloomberg) -- Thyssenkrupp AG plans to choose a winner Thursday in the hotly-contested bidding for its elevator unit, with Blackstone Group Inc. pitching long-term investments in an attempt to win over the German company, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Blackstone, which has partnered with Carlyle Group Inc. and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, has pledged to pour about $2 billion into the operations, according to the people. It has also vowed to keep the business in one piece and plans to keep using the Thyssenkrupp brand for now, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

Some within Thyssenkrupp currently prefer these aspects of Blackstone’s offer, the people said. The Blackstone consortium’s proposal would also let Thyssenkrupp keep a minority stake in the elevator unit, allowing it to benefit from an eventual initial public offering, the people said.

Rival suitor Advent International, which teamed up with Cinven and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, has been working in recent days to line up financing to support its efforts to outbid the Blackstone consortium, the people said. Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte has joined the Advent bidding group in the past few weeks, the people said.

Advent also prefers to keep the business together and plans to invest in its growth, one person said, without providing specifics. Any deal could value the business at more than 16 billion euros ($17.5 billion), according to the people.

Thyssenkrupp’s management board and supervisory board are scheduled to meet Thursday afternoon to debate the merits of the two final bids and pick a winner, the people said. The precise value of the offers couldn’t immediately be learned.

No final decisions have been made, and negotiations could still drag on longer than expected, the people said. Representatives for Thyssenkrupp and the two bidding groups declined to comment, while a representative for GIC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

--With assistance from Jan-Henrik Förster, David Ramli and Sarah Syed.

To contact the reporters on this story: Aaron Kirchfeld in London at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net;Eyk Henning in Frankfurt at ehenning1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Hauck at dhauck1@bloomberg.net, Ben Scent, Aaron Kirchfeld

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