{"id":64875,"date":"2026-07-16T03:38:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T07:38:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/abb-clinches-record-5-5-billion-deal-for-rotork-south-korea-halts-leveraged-etfs\/64875\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T03:38:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T07:38:22","slug":"abb-clinches-record-5-5-billion-deal-for-rotork-south-korea-halts-leveraged-etfs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/abb-clinches-record-5-5-billion-deal-for-rotork-south-korea-halts-leveraged-etfs\/64875\/","title":{"rendered":"ABB Clinches Record $5.5 Billion Deal for Rotork; South Korea Halts Leveraged ETFs"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>ABB (<a href=\"\/stock\/ABBN\">ABBN<\/a>) has announced its largest-ever acquisition, a $5.5 billion deal for British flow-control firm Rotork (<a href=\"\/stock\/ROR\">ROR<\/a>), while signaling it has $13 billion remaining for further M&amp;A.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>South Korea\u2019s Financial Services Commission (FSC) is temporarily halting the launch of new single-stock leveraged ETFs and raising deposit requirements to 10 million won ($7,300) to curb extreme market volatility.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy faces a potential parliamentary deadlock over the appointment of Ihor Klymenko as Defense Minister, with insiders reporting an &quot;explosive&quot; mood and insufficient votes.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>ABB reported strong Q2 2026 results, with operational EBITA rising 20% to $1.93 billion and orders jumping 30% to $12.04 billion, driven by AI-related data center demand.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>ABB Secures Landmark Rotork Acquisition<\/h2>\n<p>Swiss engineering giant ABB (<a href=\"\/stock\/ABBN\">ABBN<\/a>) reached a definitive agreement on Thursday to acquire British industrial components manufacturer Rotork (<a href=\"\/stock\/ROR\">ROR<\/a>) for an enterprise value of approximately <strong>$5.5 billion<\/strong>. The all-cash offer of <strong>506 pence per share<\/strong> represents a staggering <strong>73% premium<\/strong> over Rotork\u2019s closing price on July 15, marking the largest acquisition in ABB&#39;s 140-year history.<\/p>\n<p>CEO <strong>Morten Wierod<\/strong> emphasized that the deal is a &quot;compelling strategic fit&quot; that strengthens ABB\u2019s automation portfolio at the field-device layer. Despite the massive scale of the purchase, Wierod noted that ABB remains in a &quot;very strong position&quot; with a <strong>$13 billion<\/strong> war chest available for additional deals. The company plans to fund the acquisition using proceeds from the <strong>$5.38 billion<\/strong> sale of its robotics division to SoftBank Group (<a href=\"\/stock\/SFTBY\">SFTBY<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>The acquisition comes as ABB raises its full-year revenue outlook to <strong>low double-digit growth<\/strong>, up from previous high single-digit estimates. The company&#39;s Q2 performance was bolstered by a <strong>30% surge in orders<\/strong>, largely attributed to the global build-out of data centers required for artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n<h2>South Korea Reins in Speculative ETF Market<\/h2>\n<p>South Korea\u2019s financial regulators have moved to &quot;pump the brakes&quot; on the country&#39;s rapidly growing single-stock leveraged ETF market. The <strong>Financial Services Commission (FSC)<\/strong> announced a temporary halt on new product launches following &quot;wild price swings&quot; in funds tied to semiconductor giants Samsung Electronics (<a href=\"\/stock\/SSNLF\">SSNLF<\/a>) and SK Hynix (<a href=\"\/stock\/000660\">000660<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the moratorium on new listings, authorities are raising the mandatory advance deposit for trading these products from the current level to <strong>10 million won (approx. $7,300)<\/strong>. Regulators are also introducing a mandatory <strong>one-hour education session<\/strong> for retail investors. The crackdown follows reports of a single SK Hynix-linked ETF moving by <strong>40% in a single day<\/strong>, raising fears of systemic risk in a market where chip stocks now account for nearly <strong>60% of the KOSPI&#39;s total weight<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>Political Turmoil Hits Ukraine\u2019s Defense Ministry<\/h2>\n<p>In Kyiv, President <strong>Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/strong>\u2019s attempt to reshuffle his cabinet has met significant resistance in parliament. Lawmakers from the ruling party indicated on Thursday morning that there are currently <strong>not enough votes<\/strong> to confirm <strong>Ihor Klymenko<\/strong> as the new Defense Minister.<\/p>\n<p>The mood in the Verkhovna Rada was described by observers as <strong>&quot;explosive,&quot;<\/strong> as some MPs expressed deep dissatisfaction with the dismissal of former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov without a clear explanation. Critics warn that a leadership vacuum or frequent turnover at the Ministry of Defense could disrupt critical army reforms and drone development programs as the conflict with Russia continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways ABB (ABBN) has announced its largest-ever acquisition, a $5.5 billion deal for British flow-control firm Rotork (ROR), while [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[635,5042,5136,5380,11565,12821,20500,20501,20502],"class_list":["post-64875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-abb","tag-ukraine","tag-south-korea","tag-etfs","tag-fsc","tag-abbn","tag-ror","tag-rotork","tag-ihor-klymenko"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}