Faurecia has taken a majority share in the Chinese company Jiangxi Coagent Electronics for a total investment of 1.45 billion RMB (193 million euros).
Jiangxi Coagent Electronics is a private Chinese company which specialies in infotainment and interior electronic solutions, including the integration of digital displays and HMI technologies. The company employs 1,300 people including more than 300 engineers.
Jiangxi Coagent Electronics is based in Foshan for its R&D activities and in Jiangxi Province for its industrial production. The company is a supplier to leading Chinese automotive manufacturers and is seeing a strong growth in sales, which reached 148 million euros in 2016 and will rise to 270 million euros by 2019.
Commenting on the investment, Patrick Koller, Faurecia CEO, said: “We are very pleased to invest in Jiangxi Coagent Electronics, one of the leaders in China for infotainment. This acquisition marks another important step in the development of our technology offer for the ‘Cockpit of the Future’. The strong synergies that exist between Parrot Automotive and Jiangxi Coagent Electronics will make our offer more relevant for our customers.”
Parrot Automotive and Jiangxi Coagent Electronics will leverage a shared commercial and industrial strategy as well as developing a common technology offer led by the combined force of over 700 software engineers (by mid-2018).