(Photo: © LIFTjournal/Dirk Müller/KI-assistiert mit Firefly und ChatGPT)
July 2026
Will TKE go public, or will Kone take over the German group? Although there had been speculation about this for a long time, the news still came as a bombshell at the end of April: ...
TKE will not be going public but will instead be taken over by Kone. If this mega-deal goes through, it will create the world’s largest lift manufacturer.
BY ULRIKE LOTZE
No sooner had the news been published than speculation ran rife. Whether the authorities will approve the transaction remains entirely unclear. Kone also acknowledged this in its press release. Within the industry, it is expected that the authorities – as was the case six years ago – will not readily go along with this move in Europe.
Interestingly: after competitor Schindler – which would become the smallest of all international manufacturers following a merger (!) – had previously announced fierce resistance, the Swiss company then reacted rather calmly (see also our online report lift-journal.com/kone-tke). But of course, Schindler does not intend to stand idly by and watch the merger go ahead, and plans to take legal action against the deal, a company spokeswoman told LIFTjournal.
The current market leader, Otis, is apparently pinning its hopes on the competition authorities stepping in. “A transaction of this magnitude is likely to be subject to close scrutiny by the regulatory authorities, as they will want to examine the impact on customers and employees,” the US group stated.
It remains unclear why the Finns did not consult with IG Metall beforehand. After all, Knut Giesler, regional director of IG Metall NRW, is also deputy chairman of the supervisory board at TK Elevator GmbH.
His statement (“An announcement to the press and the workforce without first informing the co-determination bodies, be they the works councils or the supervisory board, is outrageous.”) was quoted by almost all major media outlets in Germany.
Ah yes, the media: although this is one of the largest sales by a financial investor in Germany, the news only made it into the business press, and not even into the the most popular German news programme “Tagesschau”. The industry urgently needs to work on its public image …
Naturally, the news was met with little enthusiasm by TKE employees either. For years, they were showered with praise by their CEO, Uday Yadav. And rightly so, because ultimately it is they who helped TKE report a four per cent increase in turnover to 4.5 billion euros for the first half of the 2026 financial year at the beginning of May.
But they also know, of course, what is meant by the synergy effects of around 700 million euros a year announced by Kone – that won’t happen without job cuts. Word from the German lift industry is that the number of applications from TKE employees has risen significantly recently –
understandably so.
It is also easy to imagine what consequences the deal – if it goes ahead – will have for component manufacturers: their negotiating position vis-à-vis the new giant could weaken and price pressure could increase.
Naturally, the two main owners of TKE – the private equity firms Advent and Cinven – who acquired TK Elevator from Thyssenkrupp AG for around 17 billion in 2020, can count themselves truly fortunate. Now, around 29 billion is set to be paid for the takeover – that is a remarkable profit even for a private equity firm.
In any case, the initial excitement has died down for now. By the time we went to press, the story had already completely disappeared from the headlines. Now the strings are probably being pulled behind the scenes. So things remain exciting and we will continue to report on this!
Digitalpaper
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