Whirlpool Corporation, the American parent has sold 24% stake in its Indian entity, Whirlpool of India.
- Stake has been sold in the open market for a total value of $468 mn.
- Sale happened at Rs 1,277/ per share, a discount of 4.5% to the previous day’s closing price.
- Purpose of the sale has been mentioned to reduce debt at the parent Company level.
- The parent Company’s shareholding in the Indian entity has consequently come down from 75% to 51%.
- Shares has been picked by various fund houses including SBI, Aditya Birla Sun Life, Societe Generale , Nippon India, DSPÂ and ICICI Prudential.
It’s important to note here that Whirlpool’s business and stock price performance has been muted in the last 5 years. Sales grew at a CAGR of 7% during this period, whereas profits have ‘declined’ at a CAGR of 9%. Stock price has remained flat over this period.
Whether the sale is a result of lesser confidence of the parent on the Indian entity’s business prospects (due to the increasing competition) is anybody’s guess.
The parent will be further selling 20% stake by mid to late 2025.
Post sale, parent’s stake will reduce to 31%. However, it will still continue to remain the largest shareholder in Indian entity.
Reason for stake sale is mentioned to be same as before along with higher autonomy to the Indian operations.
https://www.bseindia.com/xml-data/corpfiling/AttachLive/1a77a471-87f3-4f07-a461-68c6d408163b.pdf
Whirlpool sold around 11% stake in November 2025 and is now at 39.76%.
Compared to its original plan to dilute till 31%, it has now paused the plan to sell additional stake.
It would instead explore other options to pare its debt which was originally supposed to be funded through the stake sale.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/company/corporate-trends/whirlpool-to-retain-india-stake-for-now-ceo-marc-bitzer/articleshow/127809389.cms