Denmark's Nilfisk says its strategy is to grow via mergers

Dec 14 (Reuters) - Danish cleaning equipment company Nilfisk said it was aware of activist hedge fund Primestone Capital's push for it to consider a merger with U.S. peer Tennant and added that it was open to growing via mergers.

Primestone called on Wednesday for the two companies to merge after it built up a more than 5 percent stake in both firms.

"Nilfisk's strategy continues to be to simplify its business and to grow organically and through M&A," the Danish company, which was spun off from cable maker NKT, said in a statement.

Nilfisk shares were up 4.2 percent at 332.30 Danish crowns as of 1524 GMT. They have risen 11.8 percent since Primestone's statement on Wednesday. (Reporting by Thyagaraju Adinarayan in Gdynia; Editing by Susan Fenton)