SoftBank and ABB Weigh a China Carve-Out to Save Their $5.4 Billion Robotics Deal

Japan's SoftBank and Swiss engineering group ABB are looking at carving out the Chinese element of a $5.4 billion robotics deal that Beijing blocked earlier this week, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.

A carve-out would mean setting up a separate entity for the China business, with different ownership from the rest of the deal — an attempt to salvage a transaction that Chinese regulators have already stopped once.

It is the second deal blocked by China this year, after Meta was ordered in April to unwind its acquisition of AI startup Manus, worth more than $2 billion, as Beijing tightens scrutiny of foreign investment involving frontier technologies.

ABB is also considering other options, including finding another buyer for the business, the report said, adding that the robotics business could potentially be valued at $2 billion to $3 billion.

China is central to the deal's value. It is ABB's biggest robotics market and accounts for about 30% of its robotics business. The company operates about 30 local companies in China with around 15,000 employees in nearly 130 cities, as well as online and offline channels in nearly 700.

SoftBank did not respond to requests for comment outside business hours, and ABB declined to comment on the report.

Sources

• Reuters — SoftBank, ABB explore China carve-out to salvage robotics deal, Bloomberg News reports