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Haier, partners drop bid to buy Maytag The Whirlpool offer values Maytag at about 35 times expected 2005 earnings of 49 cents a share. That's almost three times Whirlpool's forward PE of 12. Whirlpool has downplayed antitrust concerns, saying regulatory approval for the deal would be quite possible. The prospect of a Haier takeover helped stir anti-Chinese sentiment in the U.S. over Asian companies gobbling up U.S. businesses. That concern has been stoked by a bid by China oil company CNOOC Ltd. to buy California-based Unocal Corp. for $18.5 billion. The Haier group was expected to decide whether to submit a formal bid within the next few weeks. That speculation ended on Tuesday, when Haier, Bain and Blackstone submitted a formal letter to Maytag, saying that the group has decided not to pursue an offer, according to a source who saw a copy of the letter. Maytag has set an Aug. 19 shareholder vote in its hometown of Newton, Iowa, to vote on the Ripplewood deal. Ripplewood's group, Triton Acquisition Holding, includes Goldman Sach's GS Capital Partners and the J. Rothschild Group. Whirlpool's stock on Tuesday rose 2.9 percent, or $2.12, to a one-and-a-half year high of $75.43. The 112-year-old Maytag had a loss of $9 million last year as sales slipped 1.5 percent to $4.7 billion. Whirlpool, founded in 1911, earned $406 million last year on sales of $13.2 billion. Maytag's profitability has declined amid a slump at its Hoover unit, higher
raw materials prices and competition from Asian rivals with lower costs.
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