On Monday, Oct 12th, Valmet Automotive has reached an agreement to sell its Engineering Services Business Line to Mutares SE & Co. KGaA. The transaction is still subject to authority approvals and it is expected to close in November. The divestment decision has been motivated by Valmet Automotive’s strategy to sharpen its focus to e-Mobility and electric vehicles as a contract manufacturer and Tier 1 system supplier.
With the current changes in the global automotive industry, Valmet Automotive has significant business opportunities in EV battery systems, in active kinematic systems and promising perspectives in vehicle manufacturing. Divestment of general engineering services enables to direct investments and resources into these growth areas.
The Engineering Services Business Line in Germany has been of great importance in building Valmet Automotive’s EV battery capabilities to the next level during the past 4 years. The engineering services strengthened the battery engineering and battery testing services, which recently have become part of the EV Systems Business Line offering.
The divested engineering services business includes vehicle development, electrics/electronics, simulation and testing services as well as prototyping and small series manufacturing. Around 600 employees will be affected, at the locations in Bad Friedrichshall, Helmstadt-Bargen, Ingolstadt, Munich and Wolfsburg in Germany, and Antas in Spain.
– Valmet Automotive is sharpening the strategic focus to EVs. We are pleased that the engineering services business found a new home with a strong investor, where it clearly is part of the core business and gets the attention and resources to develop into a strong future, says Olaf Bongwald, CEO, Valmet Automotive.
While exiting the general automotive engineering services, Valmet Automotive will continue to provide engineering as an integral part of vehicle manufacturing, roof and kinematic systems as well as of EV battery systems service offering.
Additional information:
Frank Volk, Senior Manager Corporate Communications, Valmet Automotive
Mobile: +49 172 3781569
frank.volk(at)valmet-automotive.com
Image bank available at https://www.valmet-automotive.com/media/
www.valmet-automotive.com
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The Valmet Automotive Group is one of the largest vehicle contract manufacturers in the world, Tier 1 systems supplier to roof and kinematic systems, and a key development partner to the global automotive industry. In its strategic development, Valmet Automotive Group focuses on electromobility with developing and supplying modules as well as battery systems. The activities in the group are divided into the four business lines: Manufacturing, Engineering, EV Systems and Roof & Kinematic Systems. Since its founding in 1968, Valmet Automotive has produced more than 1.5 million vehicles at the Uusikaupunki, Finland plant. In Salo, near the Uusikaupunki plant, Valmet Automotive opened its first volume production of batteries for the automotive industry in autumn 2019. The company has locations in Finland, Germany, Poland and Spain. The largest shareholders in the Valmet Automotive Group are state-owned Finnish investment company Tesi and the Pontos Group, each with a stake of 38.46 %. 23.08 % is held by the Chinese Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL), the world leading manufacturer of batteries and battery cells for electric vehicles.