Schneider to launch €1.2 billion bid for smart-home device maker Shelly

By Nathan Vifflin and Basile Day

Sept 24 (Reuters) - France's Schneider Electric intends to launch a voluntary public takeover offer for Bulgarian smart-home device maker Shelly Group for €70 per share, the industrial group said on Thursday.

Shares in Shelly, listed in Sofia and Frankfurt, were up 4.3% by 0859 GMT, while Schneider slipped 0.5% lower.

The all-cash offer values Shelly at about €1.2 billion ($1.4 billion) and is expected to close by the first quarter of 2027, Schneider said in a statement.

The offer price represents a 27% premium to Shelly's unaffected reference price as of July 28, and is 22% higher than its current price.

Shelly's two founders, Dimitar Dimitrov and Svetlin Todorov, hold roughly 57% of the share capital between them. Both have conditionally agreed to sell their stakes.

The deal would push Schneider deeper into the connected home market, where it competes with French rival Legrand, Sweden's Plejd and Switzerland's ABB.

Analysts called the purchase small for Schneider, whose market value is about €165 billion.

It looks like a "sensible bolt-on acquisition that is a continuation of their smart buildings strategy", RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Fielding said in an email, noting the price was less than 1% of Schneider's market capitalisation, with an operating profit contribution of a similar scale.

Jefferies said in a note the deal had "strong rationale and high potential for synergies" with Schneider's residential business, which accounts for about a third of its buildings exposure. 

Shelly, which offers smart plugs, meters, locks and cameras alongside cloud services, has grown its revenue by more than 40% per year since 2022.

($1 = 0.8790 euros)

(Reporting by Danny Callaghan, Nathan Vifflin, Basile Day in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)