Haier Group Drops Bid to Buy Maytag

Maytag Corp., which is the subject of a bidding war, said Tuesday that Haier Group of China and two partners had dropped their bid for the U.S. appliance maker.

Maytag said it had received a letter from the Chinese appliance maker and partners Bain Capital and Blackstone Group saying that they would no longer try to acquire outstanding shares of Maytag.

The group’s decision came as Maytag rival Whirlpool Corp. prepared a $17-a-share bid for the company, valuing it at $1.3 billion.

In addition, a group of investors led by Ripplewood Holdings has a $14-a-share offer in place that values Maytag at $1.12 billion.

Haier, Bain and Blackstone had indicated to Maytag that they were interested in offering $16 a share for the company.

Maytag’s board will meet this week to decide whether to move forward with Whirlpool’s offer, sources said.

The company has set a shareholder vote Aug. 19 on the Ripplewood offer.

Maytag shares, which rose 5 cents to $17.53 in regular trading, fell as much as 2.2% after hours.