Whirlpool Ends Merger Talks With AGA Rangemaster

Whirlpool Corp., the world's largest home-appliance manufacturer by sales, has dropped merger talks with British cast-iron range cooker maker AGA Rangemaster Group, according to a regulatory filing.

The announcement comes days after AGA's shareholders backed a takeover bid of £ 129 million, or about $198 million, from Middleby Corp., a maker of commercial and residential cooking equipment based in Elgin, Ill. A court hearing to sanction the deal is scheduled for Sept. 16.

The U.K.'s Takeover Panel, which sets rules governing mergers and acquisitions, had given Benton Harbor, Mich.-based Whirlpool a Sept. 14 deadline to make a final and binding proposal for AGA.

AGA touts famous backers including British chef Jamie Oliver and Mary Berry, a judge on "The Great British Bake Off," a British Broadcasting Corp. program. Its hulking and expensive stoves heated by a constant source—at one point coal, now more often natural gas or heating oil—have become one of Britain's quintessential brands.

The Aktiebolaget Gas Accumulator was designed by Swedish scientist and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Gustaf Dalé n in 1922. The company started selling ovens on a commercial scale in 1929.

Ian Walker contributed to this article.

Write to Maria Armental at [e-mail]

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September 11, 2015 15:25 ET (19:25 GMT)

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