By Xie Fang
The Haier Group Corporation, a world-leading Chinese home appliance giant, announced Friday evening that it had reached a deal with the Fumagalli family in Italy to buy 100 percent ownership of Candy, a famous European home appliance brand which is currently owned by the Fumagalli family, the China Securities Journal reported.
The execution of the deal is expected to be accomplished in early 2019 due to the administrative procedures required by the governments of both countries, says the announcement.
The deal marks a major step for Haier in its expansion in global markets. Haier disclosed in its announcement that it would set up its European headquarter in Brugherio, Italy, after the deal.
Haier said in its announcement that it would continue its investment in Candy in order to enhance the competitiveness of the brand in Europe and beyond.
What's more, Haier also hopes to consolidate its leadership position in the field of smart home under the age of Internet of Things (IoT) through the deal.
"In the age of IoT, Candy has always been committed to applying network technologies to the development of home appliances," said Liang Haishan, chairman of Haier. "That's consistent with Haier's business strategy."
"We're looking forward to joining the family of Haier," said Beppe Fumagalli from the Fumagalli family. "Haier and Candy share the same vision of constantly improving the quality of peoples' family life."
As one of the Fortune 500 companies, Haier currently owns a variety of home appliance brands including Haier, GE Appliances, Fisher & Paykel, AQUA, Casarte and Leader, which help the company lead the global home appliance market.
Data from Euromonitor, a London-based world-leading market information provider, shows that the sales of Haier's large home appliance products have been holding the top spot among global brands for nine consecutive years as of the end of 2017.
