The rally continues in Piazza Affari Indesit. By mid-morning, the household appliance company's stock gained 3,3% (after yesterday's +5,45%) to 11 euros, driven by new rumors about an agreement with an international partner which should materialize in the next few weeks.
In these hours the market rumors give the giant in pole position Chinese Haier, which yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Marche Region with the aim of "promoting the development of high-tech designs and productions by companies in the sector to support employment and production levels in the domestic and professional appliance sector now in great difficulty".
They would also be in the running Whirlpool Americans, the Turks of Arcelik, the Germans of Siemens and the Koreans of Samsung. However, it seems that a two-way Sino-American race could take the form of a real auction for a controlling stake in the Marche group.
Whirlpool would ensure greater knowledge of the Italian market (it has just upgraded its plant in Varesotto), while Haier (which has a residual market share in Italy) could guarantee a potentially unlimited outlet market such as the Chinese one.
“Given the long list of potential candidates – says a broker of Imi Bank, which confirms the buy recommendation – we think the competition could be intense, thus potentially inflating the final valuation and for this reason we see our target price of €12,5 per share as a starting price rather than a target price”.
According to press rumors released yesterday, the investment bank Goldman Sachs, advisor to Fineldo (the controlling holding of Indesit of the Merloni family) would be working to identify a "short list" of possible partners of the company which will be presented to the Board of Directors on 21st March. However, the Merloni family will probably retain a minority share.
On average over the last month, Indesit shares have gained just under 14 percentage points, while the six-monthly figure shows an increase of 74,68%.
