ABB shares hit a record high after it decided to sell its robotics division to SoftBank Group Corp for an enterprise value of US$5.375 billion (A$8.18 billion) rather than spin it off as a separately listed company.
ABB Chairman Peter Voser said SoftBank’s offer had been carefully evaluated by the Board and Executive Committee of the Swiss-based electrical engineering giant and compared with a spin-off and would create immediate value for ABB shareholders.
“Our ambitions for ABB are unchanged and we will continue to focus on our long-term strategy, building on our leading positions in electrification and automation,” Vosser said in a news release.
SoftBank Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son said the Japanese investment conglomerate and ABB Robotics would unite world-class technology and talent under a shared vision to fuse artificial super intelligence and robotics.
“SoftBank’s next frontier is Physical AI,” he said in a press release.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and further customary closing conditions and is expected to close in mid-to-late 2026.
ABB said the sale will result in a non-operational pre-tax book gain of about $2.4 billion with expected cash proceeds, net of transaction costs, of about $5.3 billion.
The expected separation costs were about $200 million, about half of which were included in 2025 guidance, and transaction-related cash tax outflows in respect of the local business carve-out were expected to be $400 million to $500 million.
ABB Robotics has a workforce of about 7,000, 2024 revenue of $2.3 billion, or 7% of ABB Group revenue, and an operational earnings before interest, tax and amortisation margin of 12.1%.
ABB (SWX: ABBN) shares closed 0.48 Swiss francs (0.82%) higher at 58.94, implying a market capitalisation of 108.68 billion francs (US$133.35 billion), after earlier reaching a record high of 60.40 francs.
Softbank (TYO: 9984) shares ended 420 yen (2%) lower at 20,610 yen, capitalising it at 30.3 trillion yen (US$198.5 billion).
