On 2 February 2017, Valmet Automotive announced the signing of an agreement with Semcon AB, listed Swedish company, to acquire Semcon’s automotive engineering operations in Germany. Sisu Partners and its German MidCap Alliance partner DZ BANK AG jointly coordinated an international transaction team including Hengeler Mueller and WKGT and Berylls in Germany as well as various meetings in Sweden, Finland, China and Germany.
The acquired business area of Semcon AB provides services to customers primarily in the German automotive industry and has around 800 employees with annual turnover of EUR 90 million. The long-term customers include all major German automotive manufacturers like Audi, BMW, Daimler, Opel, Porsche and VW. The purchase price is EUR 14.1 million plus the booked value of net assets at the date of transfer. The transaction follows the January 2017 equity offering of a 22% stake to Chinese CATL. Sisu also provided advice on the commercial terms of the EIB loan in November 2016.
The acquisitions together with the recent strategic partnership with CATL provide Valmet Automotive a solid platform to expand its operations beyond contact manufacturing and roof systems and is a very good example of the capabilities of the MidCap Alliance network and its Members in realizing multi-step objectives for clients on a cross-border basis.
The transaction was in line with Valmet Automotive’s ambition to develop company’s service range towards complete vehicle engineering and to speed up building capabilities in the hybrid and electric vehicle battery and drive train business.
