Lift maker Kone's shareholders back $34 billion TK Elevator takeover plan

By Essi Lehto

HELSINKI, June 3 (Reuters) - Finnish elevator maker Kone said on Wednesday its shareholders have approved the company's planned $34 billion acquisition of German rival TK Elevator (TKE), which is set to create ​the world's largest lift group.

The deal announced in April with Advent International, Cinven and other TKE owners is one of Europe's biggest takeovers in years and the largest sell-side private equity deal in Europe since records began in 1980, LSEG data show.

The approval required a two-thirds majority at an extraordinary general meeting, which had effectively been secured in advance, with Kone saying shareholders controlling 74% of voting power had pre-committed to backing the deal.

"Now we are working on the next step which is filing in the different regulatory authorities, and bringing specific teams together to start building the integration plan," CEO Philippe Delorme told a press conference after the shareholders' meeting.

Analysts expect antitrust scrutiny given the market is already highly concentrated, and Kone in April indicated it could thus take some 12 to 18 months to close the deal.

Chief Financial Officer Ilkka Hara said Kone and the sellers had mapped potential regulatory risks and were confident of securing approval by working with authorities.

"We believe that in some geographies there may be some remedy divestments that we will have to make, but that is part of our plan," Hara told Reuters.

The cash-and-shares deal, valued at €29.4 billion ($34.2 billion) including debt at the time of announcement, would propel Kone past U.S. rival Otis, create a European champion and strengthen its presence in the Americas.

The ultimate value of the deal depends, however, on fluctuations in Kone's share price.

Kone said in April it would pay €5 billion in cash, issue a further 270 million new class B shares and take on TKE's net interest-bearing debt of €9.2 billion.

Shareholders on Wednesday authorised the share issue, potentially giving Advent and Cinven jointly a roughly one-third equity stake, about 18% of voting power, and two seats on Kone's board.

On condition of regulatory approval, shareholders also elected Ranjan Sen, a managing partner at Advent, and Bruno Schick, a co-managing partner at Cinven, to Kone's board.

($1 = 0.8610 euros)

(Reporting by Essi Lehto, editing by Terje Solsvik, Anna Ringstrom and Tomasz Janowski)