- Four ZF plants in Johannesburg with new ownership
- Foundry, forge, and brake disks not part of ZF’s core business
ZF Friedrichshafen AG is selling Auto Industrial Brake & Chassis Holding Johannesburg (AIBC), its South African subsidiary. Investor Trinitas will acquire the plants. The contracting parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.
The subsidiary AIBC contains a forge and a foundry, among other things, and produces components for the automotive industry, including brake disks. At the four plants with roughly 900 employees at the Johannesburg location, AIBC generates a sales figure of EUR 71 million (in 2012).
ZF signed a joint venture contract for the AIBC company in 1999, thus entering the South African components market. In 2006, ZF had taken over the entire company which operated as a local supplier to ZF’s Car Chassis Technology division.
Recently, ZF has strategically realigned its business and sold the subsidiary whose activities are centered outside of ZF’s core business and which worked autonomously in the global ZF production network. Depending on the approval by the South African cartel authorities, the sale shall take effect as of December 31, 2013.
