By Bernadette Hogg
March 24 (Reuters) - Schindler will challenge any merger deal between rivals Kone and TK Elevator before antitrust authorities, the head of the Swiss lift maker told Reuters on Tuesday.
Bloomberg News reported last week that Finland's Kone was in talks to buy TK Elevator (TKE), citing sources familiar with the matter.
A merger between the two companies would create the world's largest lift maker, trouncing current number one OTIS and second-largest Schindler.
Schindler CEO Paolo Compagna
said the deal would be a "bloodbath" bound to disrupt the industry, as the world's third- and fourth-largest lift manufacturers would need to fit together overlapping customer bases, production sites and teams.
"I'm sure that we would not be the only one going and making sure that this antitrust will be checked in every possible country," Compagna said in the interview.
Kone and TKE did not initially respond to requests for comment.
POSITION REMAINS THE SAME AS IN 2019
Schindler's position on the potential merger has been the same since the idea last emerged in 2019, with Kone's previous bid for TKE, Compagna said.
The Finnish group made the 2019 offer in a consortium with CVC Capital Partners, but was ultimately trumped by an around 17.2 billion euro ($19.9 billion) bid by Advent International and Cinven, TKE's current owners.
"Today, we can say the environment is even more challenging than it would have been in 2019," Compagna said.
Bloomberg reported that the possible value of a deal this time around could go up to 25 billion euros.
Compagna predicted that any possible merger would take multiple years and presumably require a lot of divestitures.
Should a deal progress that far, Schindler would consider buying any divested companies as part of its bolt-on acquisition strategy, he added.
($1 = 0.8642 euros)
(Reporting by Bernadette Hogg in Gdansk; editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak and Matt Scuffham)
