KONE Extraordinary General Meeting To Include TKE Acquisition Vote

KONE announced it will convene an Extraordinary General Meeting on June 3 at the Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre in Helsinki, Finland. During the meeting, which starts at 10 a.m., shareholders will have the opportunity to exercise their voting rights, including by voting in advance, on certain matters on the agenda including KONE’s proposed acquisition of Germany-headquartered global OEM TK Elevator (TKE) from a consortium led by Avent and Cinven through holding company Vertical Topco II S.A. The EUR29.4-billion (US$34.4-billion) deal would create the world’s largest elevator manufacturer with a “balanced global presence, leading service and modernization capabilities and the resources to accelerate the development of new solutions and digital services,” according to KONE. The KONE Board of Directors (BoD) has “unanimously concluded that the Transaction is in the best interests of KONE and all its shareholders” and recommends all BoD proposals set forth in the meeting be approved. Shareholders of KONE that hold approximately 40.3% of all outstanding shares and 74.3% of total votes, have “irrevocably undertaken” to vote in favor of the proposed acquisition. As principal shareholder of KONE, Antti Herlin would continue to control more than 50% of voting rights after the deal is completed.