Debate over the most momentous(重大的，重要的) developments in transport usually centres on(集中在，围绕) the car, train or plane. Lifts, without which modern high-rise cityscapes(高层城市景观) would not exist, are typically (and unfairly) overlooked. Every day the world's urbanites(城市居民) rely on them to travel to heights or depths that would otherwise be inaccessible. Four firms make most of those journeys possible. And on April 29th two of them, Finland's Kone and Germany's tkE, announced that they would combine to form(合并组成) the world's biggest liftmaker.
关于交通领域最重大发展的讨论通常集中在汽车、火车或飞机上。电梯——没有它们，现代高层城市景观将不复存在——却常常（不公平地）被忽视。全世界的城市居民每天都依靠电梯到达否则无法触及的高度或深度。有四家公司让这些旅程成为可能。4月29日，其中两家——芬兰的通力和德国的TKE——宣布将合并，组建全球最大的电梯制造商。
Kone will pay €5bn ($5.8bn) in cash and give €15.2bn-worth of shares in the merged business to Advent and Cinven, a pair of private-equity firms that five years ago led a consortium to acquire TKE for €17.2bn. Kone, working with CVC, another private-equity outfit(机构，组织), had also bid for the business at the time. Now it will benefit from TKE's stint(一段时期) in private-equity hands, which has forced it to become more competitive. The deal, which the Finnish firm claims will yield cost savings of €700m a year, brings together businesses with neatly complementary strengths.(这笔交易——芬兰公司声称将每年节省7亿欧元成本——将具有完美互补优势的业务结合在一起。)
通力将以50亿欧元（58亿美元）现金，并向合并后业务中价值152亿欧元的股份授予Advent和Cinven——这两家私募股权公司五年前曾牵头一个财团以172亿欧元收购TKE。当时，通力也与另一家私募机构CVC合作竞购该业务。现在，它将受益于TKE在私募股权手中的经历，这段经历迫使TKE变得更具竞争力。这笔交易——芬兰公司声称将每年节省7亿欧元成本——将具有完美互补优势的业务结合在一起。
The new company will tower over(远超，高于) its industry, with a global market share of some 28%, according to Jefferies, an investment bank. That will place it several floors above(领先几个档次) America's Otis, the current leader with 18% of the market, and Switzerland's Schindler, which had vied for(争夺) second place against Kone with 15%.
据投资银行杰富瑞称，新公司将以约28%的全球市场份额在行业中独占鳌头。这将使其领先几个身位，高于目前以18%市场份额领先的美国奥的斯，以及曾与通力争夺第二、市场份额15%的瑞士迅达。