FRANKFURT, Oct 30 (Reuters) – Volkswagen is likely to sell its transmissions making unit Renk to a private equity firm after judging industry offers unattractive, people close to the matter said.
Buyout funds Carlyle, KKR and Triton have progressed to the second round of bidding, the people said, adding defence firm Rheinmetall and engineering group Voith were no longer in the running.
Volkswagen and the bidders declined to comment.
Bids could give Renk an enterprise value of around 700 million euros ($778 million), people close to the matter have said previously.
A Volkswagen spokesman referred to recent comments by Volkswagen Chief Financial Officer Frank Witter on potential asset sales.
“We are not in a rush. It is not about selling the units, it is about evaluating whether there are potentially better strategic options available in a different constellation. We are in talks and evaluating options,” Witter said, declining to provide further details.
Witter also said there was “sufficient” interest in the assets.
$1 = 0.8994 euros
Reporting by Arno Schuetze; Additional reporting by Jan
Schwartz, Edward Taylor and Christoph Steitz; Editing by Mark
Potter