The U.S. Justice Department is investigating Kone Oyj’s €29.4 billion ($34.4 billion) purchase of rival TK Elevator, putting pressure on a deal that would create the largest elevator manufacturer in the world.

The DOJ’s antitrust division launched an in-depth review of the merger to determine whether the deal would harm competition in the U.S. market, Kone said Tuesday.

Kone said it has been working closely with the DOJ since it announced the proposed tie-up and still expects the transaction to close in the second quarter of 2027 at the earliest. “We are confident in the benefits this combination will bring to customers and look forward to delivering those benefits following closing,” the company said in a statement.

The antitrust review, which can take a year or more, is in initial stages after the Justice Department issued its request for more detailed information to the companies on Monday, according to people familiar with the matter.

The sale of TK Elevator to Kone ranks as one of largest private equity exits at a time the buyout industry is under increased pressure to offload assets and return money to investors. For Kone, the deal fullfills a longheld aspiration to expand its footprint in the U.S.

The proposed tie-up — the largest in Finland’s history — will provide Kone with greater exposure to the U.S. market, where TK Elevator has an established presence in installing and servicing elevators. Kone has a greater footprint in Asia, where it currently gets about 35% of its revenue.

TK Elevator and its private equity owners Advent and Cinven didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. The DOJ didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Analysts have identified antitrust review as one of the key risks to the deal, announced at the end of April. It is expected to be scrutinized by competition regulators around the world and Kone has already said it expects to engage with regulators. Kone’s finance chief Ilkka Hara said in June that the company is planning to sell assets to mollify any concerns, though he didn’t offer specifics.

The Justice Department in President Donald Trump’s second term has repeatedly expressed a preference to reach settlements with companies rather than challenge deals in court, though it recently forced a U.S. defense contractor to abandon a deal when faced with the prospect of a lawsuit. The exact contours of the DOJ’s review isn’t known, but the department recently said it was looking to reduce the scope of its merger reviews in order to be less burdensome on companies.

Kone and TK Elevator are the number three and four biggest players in the market, respectively. The acqusition would roughly double Kone’s market value of about €30 billion at the time of the announcement, and catapult it above competitors Otis Worldwide Corp. of the U.S. and Switzerland’s Schindler Holding AG.

Kone has been interested in TK Elevator for years. A previous attempt to buy the business fell short in 2020, when it teamed up with CVC Capital Partners Plc before losing out to Advent and Cinven.

—With assistance from Leah Nylen.

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