Motherson Group to acquire Faurecia’s SAS cockpit modules division for 540 million euros

India’s Samvardhana Motherson is set to make yet another acquisition. Samvardhana Motherson Automotive Systems Group BV (SMRPBV), the 100% subsidiary of Samvardhana Motherson International Ltd (SAMIL), has entered into an agreement to acquire 100% stake in SAS Autosystemtechnik GmbH (SAS) from Faurecia, a Forvia Group company. The deal is valued at Rs 4,745 crore (540 million euros).

SAS, headquartered in Karlsruhe (Germany), was established in 1996 as a joint venture between Sommer Allibert and Siemens VDO. It has more than 5,000 employees in over 24 locations in Europe, Asia, and America.

SAS is a leading global provider of assembly and logistics services for the automotive industry. It has deep technical expertise and strong customer relationships with leading European and American OEMs, some spanning almost three decades. For CY2022, the company’s gross revenues were 4.4 billion euros (Rs 38,667 crore) and net revenues of 896 million euros (Rs 7,874 crore), with almost half of it contributed by EV programs.

In CY2022, SAS had gross revenues of 4.4 billion euros (Rs 38,667 crore) and net revenues of 896 million euros (Rs 7,874 crore), almost half of this contributed by EV programs.

The Forvia Group company has orders in hand worth over three billion euros over the next three years. The acquisition is aimed at further enhancing Motherson’s integration in the global automotive supply chain and increase its customer proximity.

With its strong capabilities in assembly, automation and logistics, SAS is well positioned to benefit from the secular trend of outsourcing of module assembly by OEMs to trusted suppliers.

The enterprise value of the business is 540 million euros (Rs 4,745 crore) and the transaction will be funded by a mix of debt and internal accruals. Completion of the envisaged transaction is expected by Q2 FY2024 (July-September 2023).

Commenting of the planned acquisition, Vivek Chaand Sehgal, Chairman, Motherson said, “We have always added new products and technologies to closely serve our customers in a more cohesive way. The acquisition of SAS is an important step in this direction. By adding complementing capabilities which SAS brings, we will be able to further enhance our Tier 0.5 position with our customers. With this acquisition, we will be even more diversified in our customer base and products. This acquisition will transform Motherson Group to be a leading assembler of cockpits modules globally, with special focus on EV models.”

Patrick Koller, CEO of Faurecia, commented: "We have successfully developed and positioned SAS as one of the leading global providers of assembly and logistics solutions for the automotive industry. This strong market position is founded on deep technical expertise and strong commitment of the teams. I am convinced that this transaction would unlock additional value for SAS. This would also allow FORVIA to focus on its core business activities developing breakthrough technologies and would fulfill our non-strategic asset divestment program of 1 billion euros by end-2023. By reducing our consolidated net debt following the acquisition of Hella, we are delivering on our Power25 plan as announced during our last Capital Markets Day in November 2022."

All images: courtesy Faurecia