The acquisition brings the value of the robotics company to approximately NOK 65 billion.
The SoftBank Group acquired a 40% stake in a Norwegian car shop for US$2.8 billion, which is equivalent to slightly more than NOK 23 billion. This has been confirmed by the following companies:
Autostore is headquartered in the Nedre Vats village of Rogaland and sells robotic systems for storage facilities. Including debt, this transaction will make Autostore valued at approximately $7.7 billion.
This is equivalent to approximately 65 billion Norwegian kroner.
-SoftBank CEO and founder Masayoshi Son said that we believe Autostore is a basic technology to provide fast and cost-effective logistics solutions for global companies.
Son has Said before In 30 years, there will be more super-intelligent robots than humans.
SoftBank is a Japanese conglomerate that carries out a wide range of investment activities through its Vision Fund I and II.
According to these two funds Tighten the foundation, A total of 1.7 trillion Norwegian kroner-and owns Saudi Arabia’s retirement funds, investors such as Apple, Microsoft and many Japanese banks.
The Vision Fund is known for its huge investments in technology companies such as Kahoot, Uber, Tiktok, Slack and Alibaba.
SoftBank purchases shares from Thomas H. Lee Partners, EQT Private Equity and other shareholders. After the completion of the acquisition, the Bank of Japan will have at least one member on the board of directors, but Thomas Lee Lee will continue to serve as the largest shareholder of the auto supply store.
In 2019, Autostore’s turnover was 1.7 billion Norwegian kroner and its pre-tax profit was 750 million Norwegian kroner. In the same year, the CEO’s salary was NOK 3.2 million.
Autostore’s technology realizes warehouse automation by using robots to move goods.
-We are very happy that Softbank has joined the Autostore team. Karl Johan Lier, CEO of Autostore, said that we are very happy to have the leadership and support of SoftBank worldwide, especially because we have a vision for growth in the Asia Pacific region.
The Norwegian robot success store Autostore has international names on the customer list, such as Puma, Gucci and Lufthansa.