Whirlpool, who are the Turkish Arceliks on whom the government places golden power
The government has authorized the Whirlpool-Arcelik operation on household appliances, but has exercised the golden power to protect technologies and employment. All the details, including about the Turkish company
The government, at the urging of the Enterprise Ministry Adolfo Urso, approved a decree to intervene on the merger between Whirlpool Emea, the European-Middle Eastern division of the US household appliance company, and the Turkish company Arçelik, owner of brands such as Beko and Grundig.
WHAT THE DPCM PROVIDES
Through the decree, the government authorizes the operation but exercises golden power , that set of special powers which the executive can use to protect the national interest in strategic sectors. More specifically, conditions have been established to safeguard technologies, production and employment levels. In fact, the Whirlpool-Arçelik deal involves four Italian plants – located in Lombardy, Tuscany and the Marches – and 4,638 employees.
THE NEW WHIRLPOOL-ARCELIK ENTITY
The new entity that will arise from the merger between the two companies will collect almost all of Whirlpool's assets on the European market. It will be 75 percent controlled by Arçelik and 25 percent by Whirlpool. Estimates say that it will report an annual turnover of 6 billion euros and will have over twenty thousand employees in various countries of the continent. In addition to the one of the same name, Whirlpool will contribute the Hotpoint (British) and Indesit (Italian) brands, while keeping KitchenAid for itself.
The transaction, however, will have to be approved by the European antitrust authority, which is expected to give its judgment in the second half of the year.
WHAT THE UNIONS SAY
Barbari Tibaldi, FIOM-CGIL secretary in charge of the household appliances division, "an urgent summons by Minister Urso of the social partners is needed", because "workers have the right to know the decisions taken by the government and the consequences from the point of industrial and occupational view in factories".
ALL ABOUT ARCELIK
Arçelik is controlled by Koç Holding , Turkey's largest industrial conglomerate linked to the family of the same name, one of the wealthiest in the country. Arçelik was founded in 1955 by Vehbi Koç and is chaired by one of his sons, Rahmi.
In addition to Arçelik and related brands, Koç Holding controls the Turkish hotel group Divan, the fuel distribution company Opet, the bus and military vehicle manufacturer Otokar, the automobile manufacturer Tofaş, the oil refining company Tüpraş and the large commercial bank Yapı Believe. It also participates in a joint venture with the Ford automaker, Ford Otosan.
THE FATE OF THE EX-WHIRLPOOL OF NAPLES
About a week ago an agreement was reached on the former Whirlpool plant in Naples, which will be acquired by the Italian energy plant engineering company TeaTek and reconverted to the production of photovoltaic panels, safeguarding employment (about 300 people worked on the site).
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This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/dpcm-whirlpool-arcelik/ on Tue, 02 May 2023 13:57:05 +0000.