Calm and chalk. The incipit in Milanese slang with which Firstonline had, months ago, underlined that the examination by the European anti-trust Commission of the Whirlpool-Arçelik joint venture would have taken several months, it is always current. In fact, it seems that the 23 October, the day on which the Commission's first ruling should arrive, will not put an end to the very long story. But the news is that on the panorama of White European M&A a “sparhawk” is flying – figuratively speaking – waiting for some reachable prey. It is, as we have already anticipated, the giant, invariably Chinese, the Haier, the world's leading manufacturer of domestic technology, whose European CEO, Yannick Fierling, received with great fanfare and with great visibility, in July, the Minister of Business and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, had communicated the group's willingness to take charge of those brands and related sites that the European or English anti-trust commissions (after Brexit, the (England has its own competition regulators) could possibly ask Beko Europe to divest to avoid dominant positions. And in fact the one asking for it, as Firstonline had anticipated, was England where Whirlpool and Arçelik-Beko have significant shares, which, together, would become a serious obstacle to free competition.
Whirlpool-Arçelik: phase two conditioned by Antitrust assessments
We move on to phase 2-It should also be underlined that a single evaluation of these percentages is very complicated to establish with certainty because, for example, one account is the simple sum of the two shares and another account is the individual shares of the different product categories of each of the brands of the two companies in the different markets. Not to mention the different methods of recording quotas in different countries. How he will behave the Brussels Antitrust in the face of a peremptory request from the English? We don't know. But it seems very likely that from Europe we will proceed in any case to the second phase, lasting around 4-5 months, with more incisive investigations also because, fromEnglish antitrust they could come from requests for exclusions or limitations the size of the market shares. Which would mean, for example, excluding some product categories... It is from these hypothetical closures of the two investigations that The opportunity may arise for Haier to enter the game offering, as Yannick assured both the English and French governments as well as primarily Urso, a solution: acquire the brands with related sites, the subject of the antitrust decisions.
Haier ready to step forward in the Whirlpool-Arçelik match
Haier, a cumbersome protagonist? There is no doubt that the Chinese giant is creating great concerns not only for its competitors but also for Brussels. There European demand crisis of household appliances and consumer electronics has not reduced at all and, on the contrary, from a fall of around 10 percent in volume before the summer we have reached a -12 percent in September with even bleaker forecasts. It should be underlined that sales recorded some increases in value, however only due to heavy inflationary increases in price lists. Above all, European players are affected, the Chinese are not, on the contrary, they are all implementing market shares, turnover, profits. In particular Hisense which, without much fanfare, gradually and thanks to the Italian management, is becoming with important results both in household appliances and consumer electronics, a protagonist of the European markets. The demand crisis is blocking the Midea's great maneuvers (for the moment) while Haier, as Firstonline had anticipated, on the occasion of the July meeting with Urso had also extended to the European factories and brands of Electrolux the hypothesis of a purchase.
European household appliance companies are attractive because they are the most advanced
European brands and factories, at the top of the world. But if European household appliance companies - with the exception of the French Seb Tefal which is doing well - are in such a crisis and falling in value, how can we explain the growing interest of multinationals around the world in European brands and factories? It is not only the incessant need for multinationals to grow by conquering others' market shares but also the need to master technologies, reliability, brands and employees who have reached very advanced levels of real eco-sustainability, skills and values that are not respected in the countries of origin of non-European competitors. All this has cost Europe and Europeans a lot. With an aggravating circumstance: most of the appliances not manufactured in Europe, but sold in Europe, boast self-certified lying European energy labels. And everyone knows it, traders first, competitors, and above all the European community. We repeat: there are many lying labels because England, supported by the Nordic countries, for decades prevented the creation of an independent third-party European certification body. Consequently, today it is not possible to prevent unverified false declarations, certifications and labels and this is what it is called unfair competition. Perhaps seasoned with bombastic declarations of ambitious environmental strategies. These are devices that come out of factories located in countries where the most ferocious practice is absolute environmental and social dumping. An observation that – let it be clear – also concerns many factories in Eastern Europe. As for checks in Brussels, they are very rare.
Appliances and Golden Power: where are we at?
Golden power, where are we at? Zero but maybe something is moving. After the first outburst on a hypothetical intervention by the Italian government aimed at making domestic technology count for the Italian industry as well, the golden power, nothing happened and indeed three joint requests from the national secretaries of the three unions for a meeting with the Minister are still awaiting a response. The latest is October 3rd. “Everything is still based on the declaration of intent from last May – he declares Barbara Tibaldi, Fiom-Cgil national secretary – The minister had promised a decree that should have defined the sector's industry as strategic. A phantom decree that we have repeatedly requested together. And which Urso had promised to send us. Nothing happened. We therefore have a series of events planned in view of the upcoming deadlines." But is there a timid, faint hope that the decree on golden power will go from phantom to reality? Perhaps, in fact, he returned to the ministry as an external consultant, a legendary grand commis of the Ministry of Economic Development in the period 2007-2019, and recognized as the greatest expert in the management of industrial and social crisis relations: Giampietro Càstano. One of the very few who, through unanimous recognition by unions, industry and politicians, has positively resolved many decidedly serious disputes.
