SoftBank and ABB weigh splitting off China unit to save $5.4B robotics deal

SoftBank Group and ABB are working on a Plan B. The two companies and their advisers are exploring a carve-out of ABB Robotics' Chinese business to rescue SoftBank's $5.4 billion purchase of the unit, according to people familiar with the matter.

The scramble follows a Thursday block by China's Office of the Working Mechanism for Foreign Investment Security Review, which halted the deal outright. SoftBank is driving the effort to find a fix, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks are private.

China is the prize that's complicating everything: it's ABB Robotics' largest single market. Splitting that business out could let the rest of the transaction move forward without tripping the same security review, though no final structure has been settled.

The review body's intervention turned a signed deal into a tangle overnight, putting a $5.4 billion valuation in limbo. Neither company has publicly detailed its next move.

For now, the carve-out remains an idea under study rather than a done deal. Whether Beijing would wave through a trimmed-down acquisition — and what a standalone Chinese robotics business would look like — is the open question both sides are racing to answer.