Sparkle Roll Prepares Bid for the Even Larger Bang & Olufsen

Luxury car distributor Sparkle Roll Group Ltd. looks to enter the hi-fi market with plans to launch a bid for Denmark's Bang & Olufsen A/S. Shares in Struer-based Bang & Olufsen opened on Tuesday about 7% higher after Sparkle Roll chairman Qi Jianhong said his company intended to launch a takeover bid. 'We strongly believe that Bang & Olufsen would benefit from a different ownership structure...to free up resources as well as accelerate growth and consolidation,' Qi Jianhong said in a statement released by Bang & Olufsen. 'A condition for making an offer is that we are comfortable it will be possible for us to acquire all shares in Bang & Olufsen at a price we find reasonable.' Hong Kong-listed Sparkle Roll principally sells luxury cars and watches in China. It has a market capitalization of HK$1.76 billion ($227 million), about half the value of Bang & Olufsen's equity valuation of about 3.07 billion Danish kroner ($462 million). Sparkle Roll has owned a minority stake in Bang & Olufsen since 2012, when it teamed with Euro-Asian private equity investor