DAVOS 2023-ABB aims for 5-10 small-to-medium acquisitions a year - chairman

By Divya Chowdhury and Savio Shetty

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Heavy electrical company ABB Ltd Chairman Peter Voser sees his firm acquiring between five to 10 small-to-medium enterprises a year to add to the company's organic business, he said on Monday.

"Each division of ABB should be active in organic and inorganic strategies, which would see ABB acquiring between five to 10 small-to-medium business every year," Voser told the Reuters Global Markets Forum on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum's annual meeting at Davos.

Collectively, ABB expects to spend under $1 billion to buy targets that it is "actively looking" for currently, and Voser said the investment will "certainly not be in the billions".

The Swedish-Swiss company's plans to partly list its electric vehicles (EV) charging business has not happened yet due to "difficult" financial markets in 2022, Voser said.

Zurich-based ABB raised around 200 million Swiss francs in November, which at the time was around $209 million, from selling an 8% stake in its EV charging business.

"We are constantly looking at both opportunities of further private placements and/or floating, but we are under no pressure," Voser said.

Asia will be a key market for ABB's electrification and automation businesses, particularly China as its ageing population will need businesses to shift more towards robotics, and India due to its increasing population.

"I would expect Asia to grow faster than the rest (of the world). That's fair to say, given the population and the economies there, but I wouldn't underestimate the growth potential in the U.S.," Voser said. For daily Davos updates in your inbox sign up for the Reuters Daily Briefing here (Join GMF, a chat room hosted on Refinitiv Messenger: https://refini.tv/33uoFoQ)

(Reporting by Divya Chowdhury in Davos and Savio Shetty in Mumbai; editing by Jonathan Oatis)