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UTC boosts offer for Kidde

UTC boosts offer for Kidde

December 16, 2004 HARTFORD, Conn. - United Technologies Corp. raised its bid for Kidde plc, a fire equipment and smoke detector manufacturer located in the United Kingdom, in early December by about 3 percent to GBP 1.38 billion ($2.67 billion). UTC’s drive to purchase Kidde centers around its plan to add fire equipment to its Chubb security unit, a division it purchased in 2003 that includes the Counterforce alarm business. Paul Jackson, a spokesman for UTC, declined to comment on the company’s offer. After receiving the increased offer, Kidde said it would grant UTC limited due-diligence access to its books. Once part of the same company as Chubb before UTC purchased it, Kidde rejected a previous offer of $2.6 billion for being too low. UTC secured U.S. regulatory approval in October to increase its stake in Kidde to as much as 30 percent from 2.6 percent. But the U.K. company’s Takeover Panel increased pressure by giving UTC a deadline of Dec. 16 to increase its initial offer or be forced to withdraw from bidding for six months.

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