ABB Power open offer: What sparked it and why small shareholders are sore

What triggered the open offer?

The open offer was triggered by indirect acquisition and change in control at ABB Power. In December 2018, Swiss firm ABB made a global announcement pertaining to the sale of its power-grid business to Japanese conglomerate Hitachi. The $6.4 billion deal gave Hitachi an 80.1 per cent stake in ABB’s power grid unit and an option to take it to 100 per cent. As part of the deal, Hitachi and ABB would set up a joint venture in which ABB would spin off its power grid business. Pursuant to this, ABB’s domestic unit ABB India set the ball rolling on hiving off the power business into ABB Power Products and Systems India, which got listed in March.