Haier To Buy General Electric’s Appliances Business For $5.4B

China’s Haier Group (海爾) has agreed to buy General Electric Co’s (GE) appliance business for US$5.4 billion in what would be the nation’s biggest acquisition of an overseas electronics company.

Qingdao Haier – a unit of Haier Group, which owns 41% of it – will acquire GE’s appliances business.

The sale to Haier will generate an after-tax gain of about 20 cents a share after closing, which will be offset by restructuring costs, GE said.

GE Appliances will continue to be headquartered in Louisville in Kentucky and run by its current management team.

“This is the chance of a life-time for Haier to become big outside China and specifically United States, hence they are willing to pay this very high price tag”, Kepler Cheuvreux analyst Johan Eliason told Reuters.

The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) had filed a lawsuit in July previous year, asking a judge to stop the GE-Electrolux deal, arguing that it would push up the price of appliances by 5 percent. Therefore, the deal, if completed, will be beneficial for both companies.

Within his first decade as chairman, he transformed Haier, creating China’s largest appliance maker and becoming the first businessman appointed to China’s Central Committee, one of the Communist Party’s highest decision-making bodies.

GE Appliances makes refrigerators, freezers, clothes washers and dryers across brands such as Monogram, Café, Profile and Artistry.

Haier, said Immelt, has begun to focus on growth in the US, with plans to build plants in the country and to invest if more in the business.

GE, which also stands to receive a $175 million breakup fee from Electrolux, had previously told investors that there was huge demand for the appliances business and the company expected to move quickly to find a new buyer. The company bought control of New Zealand’s Fisher & Paykel Appliances Holdings Ltd.in 2012 and took over part of Sanyo Electric Co.’s washing-machine and refrigerator businesses from Panasonic in March to expand its presence in Southeast Asia.

Fischer said Haier wants to use Louisville as its headquarters to grow its US presence and is dedicated to investing in Louisville and the GE product line.

Haier Group, which calls itself “the world’s leading home appliance provider”, recorded global revenues of $32.6 billion and profits of $2.4 billion in 2014.

The two companies will work together on projects related to the industrial internet, healthcare, and advanced manufacturing.

Haier’s methods have been studied in business schools including Harvard, but its exact ownership structure remains opaque.