Zhongding Group, a leading Chinese automotive Tier-1 supplier with revenues of more than EUR 1.6 billion, has acquired an equity stake in Green Motion SA, the Swiss market leader for electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
The minority interest includes an exclusive license agreement as well as a significant capital increase in order to finance the continued successful growth of the company. With immediate effect, Zhongding will be represented on the board of directors.
Within seven years in business, Green Motion, a former start-up from Bussigny (Lausanne area, Switzerland), has grown into an industrial company and is now the recognized Swiss leader in charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. In 2016, its network comprises 730 charging stations installed nationwide, used by over 220 institutional customers.
Green Motion and Zhongding have signed an exclusive product license agreement for China, where the market potential for charging infrastructure is particularly strong. In October 2015, the Chinese government announced the introduction of a major charging network by the end of 2020 to be able to meet the demands of five million electric cars. By leveraging Green Motion’s solutions (charging stations and software for managing networks), Zhongding intends to play an active role in this development.
The new funds will also allow Green Motion to vastly expand its existing charging stations network in Switzerland. This nationwide strategy will be explained in detail by Green Motion in a separate press release over the next few weeks.
Green Motion’s founders and shareholders, François Randin and Christophe Millet, will continue as managing directors. They developed the technology base and have led the company to its current successful market position.
With this investment Zhongding Group, a leading automotive Tier-1 supplier with 14.000 employees and annual sales of EUR 1.6 billion, continues to strengthen its technology portfolio. The investment is part of the group’s strategic preparation for the growing importance of electric mobility and the expected resulting changes in the automotive markets.
Zhongding Group was strategically and commercially advised by PERLITZ STRATEGY GROUP under the lead of Matthias Litschke and legally by RITTERSHAUS RECHTSANWÄLTE, under the lead of Dr. Claudia Pleßke, managing partner at the Mannheim office. The same transaction team of PERLITZ STRATEGY GROUP and RITTERSHAUS already advised Zhongding Group in a number of M&A transactions, such as the acquisitions of Austria Druckguss (Gleisdorf, Austria), Federal Mogul Sealing Systems (St. Priest, France), WEGU Group (Kassel, Germany) and others.
Advisory Team Zhongding Group:
PERLITZ STRATEGY GROUP – Matthias Litschke, Manager (Lead Commercial: Commercial Due Diligence, Deal Structure, Risk Assessment), Philipp Hendel (Commercial Due Diligence).
RITTERSHAUS Rechtsanwälte – Dr. Claudia Pleßke, Partner (Lead Legal: Legal Due Diligence, Corporate M&A), Dr. Andreas Torka, Partner (Corporate M&A).
Advisory Team Green Motion:
PMIC ADVISORS GROUP GMBH: Dr. Thomas W. Schrepfer (Lead)
Perlitz Strategy Group (PSG) is an internationally operating, mid-sized management consultancy based in Mannheim, Germany. PSG specializes in corporate strategy, business development, reorganization/restructuring, sales management and innovation management. Its industry focus are the automotive, mechanical engineering, electrical and chemical industries.
RITTERSHAUS is a law firm with offices in Mannheim, Frankfurt and Munich. Mainly specialized on advising medium-sized and large companies, the emphasis of its services are corporate law with a focus on restructuring, M&A, private equity and venture capital transactions, as well as corporate financing and company and asset succession. Other fields of advisory are banking and capital market law, labor law, intellectual property law, public law and IT law.
Contact:
PERLITZ STRATEGY GROUP GmbH & Co KG
Matthias Litschke, phone: +49 (0)621-1504217
Mail: matthias.litschke@perlitz.com
