Valmet Automotive has signed an agreement with Semcon, an international technology company listed on the Stockholm stock exchange, to acquire Semcon’s automotive engineering operations in Germany with some 800 employees and annual turnover of EUR 90 million. Acquisition comprises of Semcon’s automotive engineering service operations located in Germany and testing operation in Spain.
The acquisition, together with the recent strategic partnership with CATL, a leading global provider of battery and energy storage solutions, provides Valmet Automotive with a solid platform to expand its operations beyond contract manufacturing and roof systems. It is now in position to become a major player also in automotive engineering services in Europe with a special focus on the fast growing electric vehicle business.
Through the acquisition Valmet Automotive gets access to versatile and high quality competences. These are needed for developing Valmet Automotive’s service range towards complete vehicle engineering and to speed up building capabilities in the hybrid and electric vehicle battery and drive train business. Furthermore, Valmet Automotive benefits from the long term business relations and customer interfaces the acquired operations have with all German automotive manufacturers.
“This acquisition radically expands our engineering services range and enables us to build and implement an overarching Valmet Automotive engineering strategy. Together with our existing engineering resources in Finland and Germany, we will have, after the acquisition, an engineering team of close to 1000 employees. Customers are actively asking for enhanced engineering services, and now we have substantially strengthened our capabilities to provide what the automotive manufacturers need. We warmly welcome the Semcon Germany team to join Valmet Automotive and to be part of the larger value proposal we will have for our customers going forward,” says Mr. Ilpo Korhonen, CEO, Valmet Automotive.
The locations to be transferred to Valmet Automotive in Germany are in Wolfsburg, Ingolstadt, Rüsselsheim, Bad Friedrichshall, Sindelfingen and Munich. The operations are divided into engineering services (body-in-white, exterior, interior, powertrain, electronics and vehicle), prototype production, testing and niche series production segments. The long-term customers include all major German automotive manufacturers like Audi, BMW, Daimler, Opel, Porsche and VW. The headcount is around 800 employees, the annual turnover approximately 90 million Euros. The transaction is expected to close during February.
