Maytag Corp. has declared a $21 per share takeover offer from Whirlpool to be a “superior proposal” and made the recommendation that shareholders vote to reject a rival bid by private-equity group Ripplewood Holdings and its acquisitions unit, Triton.

In a statement released on Friday afternoon, Maytag said that it would violate its fiduciary duty to its shareholders to reject the Whirlpool offer in favor of the smaller Triton bid, which it previously had endorsed.

However, due to Maytag’s rejection of the smaller offer, Triton will receive a $40 million break-up fee to be paid by Whirlpool. The total value of the Whirlpool bid is $2.7 billion. In addition, Whirlpool has offered to pay Maytag $120 million in the event that the deal does not pass regulatory muster, and will also pay up to $15 million to keep on Maytag employees.

The guarantee in the case that regulators do not approve the deal is particularly important, since the company that will be formed by the merger of Maytag and Whirlpool will have a large enough share of the washing machine and kitchen appliance market - 48 percent, compared to 26 percent for General Electric and 20 percent for Electrolux - to draw the attention of antitrust regulators.