Diebold in talks to buy Wincor Nixdorf - sources (updated)

Oki Electric Industry

09/06/2015 19:58

(Adds details, background) 
    FRANKFURT, June 9 (Reuters) - U.S. automated teller machine 
maker Diebold Corp  DBD.N  is in talks about a possible 
acquisition of its troubled German rival Wincor Nixdorf 
 WING.DE , sources with knowledge of the negotiations told 
Reuters. 
    Wincor is being advised by Goldman Sachs and Diebold by JP 
Morgan, one source added, confirming a report by the Frankfurter 
Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper earlier on Tuesday. Goldman 
Sachs and JP Morgan declined to comment. 
    A Diebold spokesman declined to comment on "rumours and 
speculation", while nobody from Wincor Nixdorf, which has a 
market capitalisation of 1.1 billion euros ($1.24 billion), was 
immediately available to comment.  
    Reuters reported in April that Wincor had asked investment 
banks to come up with ideas to secure the future of the group, 
including a potential sale to a private equity group, two people 
familiar with the matter said then.  ID:nL5N0X52IL  
    The rise of online banking and e-commerce poses a structural 
challenge to Wincor, which has been struggling with low capital 
expenditures of banks eager to keep costs in check while 
emerging from the financial crisis. 
    Wincor announced in April it would cut 12 percent of its 
workforce and spin off its cashless payments business as part of 
a restructuring after warning it would miss its sales and 
operating profit targets for the year, citing deteriorating 
business in Russia and China, sluggish recovery in European 
investment spending and eroding hardware prices.  ID:nL5N0XK10T  
    Wincor, which also competes with U.S.-based NCR Corp  NCR.N  
and Japan's Oki Electric  6703.T , specialises in banking 
systems like ATMs, accounting for roughly two thirds of its 
annual sales, and payment systems for retailers such as 
so-called Points of Sale (POS), which account for the rest. 
    Wincor's shares, which are widely held, have lost 16 percent 
this year. Diebold shares were up 5.5 percent at 1857 GMT. 
    Founded by Heinz Nixdorf in 1952, the company was taken over 
by Siemens  SIEGn.DE  in 1990 before being acquired by buyout 
groups KKR  KKR.N  and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners  GS.N  in 
1999. It was listed on the stock exchange in 2004 and the 
private equity groups have since sold their entire holdings. 
    Goldman Sachs co-chairman Alexander Dibelius acts as 
chairman of Wincor Nixdorf's supervisory board. 
    ($1 = 0.8861 euros) 
 
 (Reporting by Alexander Huebner and Arno Schuetze, writing by 
Emma Thomasson; editing by Susan Thomas) 
 ((+49 30 2888 5081; Reuters Messaging: 
emma.thomasson.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: WINCOR NIXDORF M&A/DIEBOLD