Swedish-Swiss company ABB today announced it has signed an agreement to divest its Robotics division to SoftBank Group for an enterprise value of $5.375 billion and not pursue its earlier intention to spin-off the business as a separately listed company.
ABB is a global technology leader in electrification and automation, enabling a more sustainable and resource-efficient future. By connecting its engineering and digitalisation expertise, ABB helps industries run at high performance, while becoming more efficient, productive and sustainable so they outperform. The company has over 140 years of history and around 110,000 employees worldwide.
According to Peter Voser, Chairman of ABB, SoftBank’s offer has been carefully evaluated by the Board and Executive Committee and compared with its original intention for a spin-off.
“It reflects the long-term strengths of the division, and the divestment will create immediate value to ABB shareholders.
ABB will use the proceeds from the transaction in line with its well-established capital allocation principles.
Our ambitions for ABB are unchanged and we will continue to focus on our long-term strategy, building on our leading positions in electrification and automation.”
ABB CEO Morten Wierod added:
“SoftBank will be an excellent new home for the business and its employees.
ABB Robotics will benefit from the combination of its leading technology and deep industry expertise with SoftBank’s state-of-the-art capabilities in AI, robotics and next-generation computing. This will allow the business to strengthen and expand its position as a technology leader in its field.”
ABB Robotics has long been one of Europe’s strongest players in industrial and collaborative robotics.
By divesting the division to SoftBank rather than spinning it off as a separate listed European entity, ABB is effectively ceding one of Europe’s few global-scale robotics assets to a non-European owner.
Masayoshi Son, Chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group, said:
“SoftBank’s next frontier is Physical AI. Together with ABB Robotics, we will unite world-class technology and talent under our shared vision to fuse Artificial Super Intelligence and robotics —driving a groundbreaking evolution that will propel humanity forward.”
As a result of the agreement signing, ABB will adjust its reporting structure to three business areas. As of the fourth quarter 2025, the Robotics division will be reported as Discontinued operations. At the same time, the Machine Automation division, which together with ABB Robotics currently forms the Robotics & Discrete Automation business area, will become a part of the Process Automation business area.
Upon closing, the divestment will result in a non-operational pre-tax book gain of approximately $2.4 billion with expected cash proceeds, net of transaction costs, of approximately $5.3 billion.
The ABB Robotics division has a workforce of approximately 7,000. With 2024 revenues of $2.3 billion, it represented about 7 per cent of ABB Group revenues and had an Operational EBITA margin of 12.1 per cent.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and further customary closing conditions and is expected to close in mid-to-late 2026.