SEOUL, KOREA - Samsung Techwin has pulled out of a bidding competition to acquire Ansaldo Energia, an Italian power engineering company. According to investment banking sources on February 20, only two companies, Doosan Heavy Industries and Siemens of Germany, had submitted binding proposals to the main bidding for Ansaldo Energia that was closed lately.

Earlier, it was expected the bidding war for the Finmeccanica SpA subsidiary would boil down to a rivalry between Doosan and Samsung. It was because the third bidder Siemens had overlapping business areas with Ansaldo Energia and has had difficulties smoothing out issues related to intellectual properties with the Italian company. As Samsung Techwin is out of the picture, however, the competition has been quickly reduced to a showdown between Doosan and Siemens.

 

Ansaldo Energia has capabilities in power plant construction and management. Its fully owned subsidiary Ansaldo Nucleare is a well-known company for its competency in nuclear power plant construction. Last year when Siemens sought to acquire Ansaldo Energia, the estimated asking price was 1.3 billion euros (US$1.73 billion). But there are speculations that the price may have been reduced since then.