With effect from June 30, 2014 the Chinese Zhongding Group has acquired the majority of the limited partnership and business shares of KACO GmbH + Co. KG, Heilbronn, Germany. The seller was the Brazilian Sabó Group. The acquisition includes an 80% equity stake in the parent company and its foreign subsidiaries. Sabó Group retains a 20% minority interest.
In preparation for the transaction, the former Sabó USA, Lincolnton/ North Carolina, was transferred into the KACO Group and now operates as KACO USA. As a result of the integration, KACO strengthens its global footprint and now operates manufacturing plants in all key automotive continents. The new ownership structure combined with the strengthened global footprint will open up new market prospects to KACO Group.
KACO Group will be integrated into Zhongding Group as an independent division under the Zhongding Holding Europe, Austria. The headquarters of KACO Group will remain in Heilbronn, Germany. Zhongding relies on the current management team and organizational structure.
With this investment Zhongding Group, a leading automotive Tier-1 supplier with 13.000 employees and annual sales of USD 1.0 billion, continues to strengthen its core division “Sealing” and its global footprint. The Sealing division is listed as “Anhui Zhongding Sealing Parts Co Ltd” on the stock exchange in Shanghai and Shenzhen.
The completion of the company acquisition contract was subject to regulatory approval, which have now been granted. The purchase price was not disclosed.
Zhongding Group was strategically and commercially advised by PERLITZ STRATEGY GROUP under the lead of Andreas Offinger, Partner, legally by RITTERSHAUS RECHTSANWÄLTE, under the lead of Dr. Claudia Pleßke, Partner at Mannheim office, and in tax matters by FALK & CO under the lead of Dr. Alexander Düll, Partner at Heidelberg office.
Advisory Team Zhongding Group:
PERLITZ STRATEGY GROUP – Andreas Offinger, Partner (Lead Commercial: Commercial Due Diligence, Deal Structure, Risk Assessment, Price Negotiation), Matthias Litschke, Manager (Commercial Due Diligence).
RITTERSHAUS Rechtsanwälte – Mannheim office: Dr. Claudia Pleßke, Partner (Lead Legal: Legal Due Diligence, Corporate M&A), Dr. Martin Bürmann, Partner (Legal Due Diligence, Corporate M&A), Dr. Martin Schmidhuber, Partner (IP-/IT Law), Anno Haberer (Antitrust Law).
FALK & CO: Dr. Alexander Düll, Partner, auditor and tax advisor (Head of M&A and Transaction Services), Dr. Steffen Bangert, Partner, auditor and tax advisor, Dr. Stefan Tichy, Partner, auditor and tax advisor.
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.
FALK & Co has been in existence for over 70 years as an independent audit, accounting and tax advisory firm with more than 300 employees throughout 9 national offices. Focusses of the advisory services of FALK & Co. are M&A transactions as well as restructuring measures after an acquisition.
Contact:
PERLITZ STRATEGY GROUP GmbH & Co KG
Andreas Offinger, phone: +49 (0)621-1504224
Mail: andreas.offinger@perlitz.com
