Technology-driven global firm Teijin Ltd is to wholly acquire Benet Automotive, a leading automotive composite and component supplier in the Czech Republic, from Jet Investment. The terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed. 

Benet, headquartered in Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic, is a Tier 1 supplier of composite components to the automotive industry, offering advanced technologies for carbon-fibre-reinforced and glass-fibre-reinforced plastic moulding, as well as the painting and assembly of vehicles. The company specialises in reinforced reaction injection moulding (RRIM), a low-pressure process using polyurethane; and both conventional autoclave and resin transfer moulding (RTM).

Benet has three facilities in the Czech Republic and one in Germany to cater to European automotive OEMs including Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and Skoda. The company had 720 employees and recorded sales of 35.2 million euros (Rs 275 crore ) in fiscal 2018.

Teijing races to become multi-material component supplier
Teijin is growing its automotive composites business with proprietary lightweight, high-performance materials, and superior design capabilities, to become a multi-material component supply partner of automotive OEM customers served by Teijin hubs in Europe, North America and Asia.

In Europe, Teijin acquired Inapal Plásticos, a leading automotive-composite supplier in Portugal, in August 2018; and is installing a glass- and carbon-fibrre sheet-moulding-compound (GF-SMC and CF-SMC) line in the French facility of Continental Structural Plastics, a world leader in automotive composites based in North America, which Teijin acquired in January 2017.

Benet has strategic proximity to the central and eastern regions of the European market where key German and other European OEMs operate production facilities. The company’s well-proven supply record will provide a solid foundation for Teijin to further strengthen its solution development capabilities and sales channels in Europe.

As part of its multi-material strategy, Teijin will leverage Benet’s capabilities in existing development projects and evolve chemistry of innovations with Teijin and CSP’s material and moulding technologies and technical team members to offer innovative automotive composite solutions that meet customers’ future needs for lightness, toughness, design flexibility, productivity and cost-effectiveness. 

Teijin is targeting automotive composite business sales of approximately 1.7 billion euros (Rs 13,319 crore) by 2030.