Whirlpool sells majority ownership of Brazil compressor business

("whirlpool fever" by frankieleon, CC BY 2.0)

Whirlpool Corporation is selling a part of its business to a Japanese company.

Tuesday, the Whirlpool Corporation announced that it has agreed to sell it’s Embraco compressor business to Japan’s Nidec Corporation for just over 1 billion dollars in cash.

Reuters reports the move by the Benton Harbor-based company comes as they refocus their efforts on consumer-facing products. Embraco, based in Brazil, has been a Whirlpool majority-owned business for more than 20 years, and has 11,000 employees around the world.

The deal is not expected to have a material impact on Whirlpool’s 2018 financial results, and they intend to execute open market share repurchases throughout 2018 after the completion of the tender offer.