China prohibits SoftBank's $5.4 billion purchase of ABB's robotics business

SoftBank Group (TSE: 9984) said on November 6, 2026 that China's foreign-investment security review office prohibited its planned $5.375 billion purchase of ABB's robotics business in China, a decision the company received on November 4.

The release says "in China" and stops there

SoftBank said it "received notification from the Office of the Working Mechanism for Foreign Investment Security Review in China that it had prohibited the acquisition of ABB’s robotics business in China." The company added that it "is in close dialogue with ABB, and both parties are working constructively on the transaction."

The release does not say whether the agreement is terminated, amended or restructured, and it gives no reason for the decision. SoftBank said it "will promptly announce any decisions on matters requiring disclosure."

What SoftBank and ABB signed in October 2025

SoftBank's October 8, 2025 announcement said it had signed a definitive agreement that day to buy ABB's robotics business for a total purchase price of $5.375 billion, about 818.7 billion yen. The deal was subject to regulatory approvals "including in the European Union, China, and the United States," and SoftBank expected it to close in mid-to-late 2026.

ABB was to carve the business out into a new holding company based in Zürich, and SoftBank would acquire all of its shares. The business had about 7,000 employees at the time.

SoftBank described the purchase as part of its plan to expand in what it called four essential areas, among them AI chips, AI robots, AI data centers and energy.

The business behind the price

The 2025 announcement included three years of figures supplied by ABB, on a pro forma, unaudited US GAAP basis. They are in millions of US dollars.

Fiscal year	Revenue	EBITDA	Operational EBITA
2022	2,258	221	186
2023	2,452	385	349
2024	2,279	313	277

Revenue fell 7.1% in 2024 from 2023 (computed from the table above), and EBITDA fell 18.7% (computed). The $5.375 billion price equals about 2.4 times 2024 revenue and about 17.2 times 2024 EBITDA (both computed). ABB cautioned that the figures "may differ from the actual figures of the business scope to be acquired and operated on a standalone basis."

A closing date that now depends on a disclosure not yet made

We think the first question is not the price but the scope of the word "in China". The release prohibits the acquisition there and says nothing about the European Union or the United States, where approval was also required, so how the parties respond is the fact to wait for. Our reading is that a business that earned about $2.3 billion of revenue in 2024 was priced on SoftBank's AI-robotics plan more than on its recent results, and a regulatory veto tests that plan directly.

For ABB, the risk is a sale it expected to close in 2026 stays open; the opportunity is that it keeps a business with an operational EBITA margin of about 12.2% in 2024 (computed). For SoftBank, the risk is a gap in its AI-robotics strategy; the opportunity is that the capital stays free for other uses. We expect the next SoftBank disclosure to show whether the deal is changed or ended, and we would treat anything short of that as unresolved. What would prove this reading wrong is a release stating that the Chinese decision does not affect the remainder of the transaction.

The view in this final section is FinanceInTime's editorial opinion, for information only. It is not investment, tax, legal or other advice, and it does not take your circumstances into account. Forecasts are uncertain and past results do not guarantee future ones.