China blocks SoftBank’s $5.4 billion takeover of ABB’s robotics division, FT reports

Nov 5 (Reuters) – China has told Japanese investor SoftBank it will not allow the $5.4 billion acquisition of the robotics segment of Swiss engineering group ABB to go ahead, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing multiple people familiar with the matter. 

Here are some details:

• China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) would block the deal, the report said

• Softbank had agreed to buy ABB’s robotics business in October last year, as CEO Masayoshi Son sought to establish SoftBank as a core player in the development of artificial intelligence

• SoftBank had expected the deal to be approved until last week, the newspaper said

• China is ABB’s biggest robots market, representing around 30% of its robots business

• The NDRC was concerned about robotics data being transferred overseas, where it could be used to train AI models, including those developed by OpenAI, in which SoftBank is a major investor, the FT report added

• SoftBank shares, already down about 5% in Tokyo, changed little after the FT report

• Reuters could not immediately verify the report. SoftBank and ABB did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. China’s NDRC could not be reached.

(Reporting by Sumedha Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Jochelle Mendonca)

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