Plastic Omnium, Lyon, France, and Solvay, Brussels, Belgium, have signed a binding agreement for the sale of Solvay's 50% stake in Inergy Automotive Systems, thereby increasing Plastic Omnium’s share in the company to 100%. Solvay will receive EUR 270 million in cash for the shares.
The world’s leading manufacturer of fuel systems, Inergy Automotive Systems supplies fuel tanks for nearly one vehicle out of five worldwide from its 24 production plants in Europe, Asia, North America, South America and South Africa. The company has 4,000 employees. As of 30 June 2010, Inergy had net cash of EUR 14 million and its sales amounted to about EUR 900 million in 2009. The company is expected to generate revenue of EUR 1.1 billion in 2010 with a first-half operating margin of around 8%, similar to that of Plastic Omnium’s automotive division.
For Solvay the deal represents an Enterprise Value of about EUR 330 million for its 50% stake when taking into account the assumption of debt and other liabilities for an adjusted value of about EUR 60 million.
The capital gain for Solvay will be part of subsequent communication after closing of the transaction. The closing is expected in September or October 2010, after obtaining the usual antitrust authorizations.
The transaction is a strategic step for Solvay and will allow the company to concentrate its efforts in automotive applications on developing and delivering high-added value specialty polymers.
30.07.2010
|
