TMT acquires Rubber & Plastics Business Unit from ZF Friedrichshafen
ERJ staff report (TP)
Friedrichshafen, Germany − Shanghai-listed Zhuzhou Times New Material Technology (TMT) signed an agreement on 11 December with ZF Friedrichshafen AG to acquire its Rubber & Plastics Business Unit.
The unit will be carved out and transferred into a new company. TMT and ZF will ensure that all legal and contractual requirements are met and safeguard the transition of the current employees' terms and conditions. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2014 and is subject to regulatory approvals for example in China and Europe as well as to approval by TMT’s shareholders.
Against the backdrop of strong consolidation in the rubber and plastics industry, ZF has concluded that the unit − currently part of ZF’s Car Chassis Technology Division − will be better positioned as a standalone company, backed by a long-term strategic investor. The unit will generate sales of about €700m in 2013 with approximately 3,300 employees in nine locations across Europe, North and South America, Asia and Australia.
TMT is a provider of Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH) components and polymer composite materials for the railway, automotive, construction and wind power industry. TMT aims to expand into the global automotive NVH market by making the Rubber & Plastics Business Unit one of its core business units and its primary automotive platform globally.
The operational headquarters of the new company will remain in Damme, Germany, and will be largely operated and managed autonomously by its existing management team. TMT will maintain all existing production sites.
ZF and the Rubber & Plastics Business will continue to cooperate closely and will together with TMT explore future cooperation on technology projects in fields such as, for example, electronics, industrial products, heavy truck technologies and axle systems.
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Press release from ZF Friedrichshafen
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