Continental acquires Veyance after CADE approval
Continental concluded its acquisition of U.S. rubber company Veyance Technologies after receiving approval from Brazilian antitrust authority CADE (Council for Economic Defense). The transaction is valued at 1.4 billion euros.
Veyance specializes in producing conveyor belts, hoses and power transmission belts, and the company operates 27 plants around the world. In 2013, Continental and Veyance together achieved sales totaling 5.4 billion euros.
“By integrating Veyance in our ContiTech division, we are expanding our global position in rubber and plastics technologies,” says Dr. Elmar Degenhart, chairman of Continental’s executive board in Hanover. “In addition, this acquisition will bring Continental a significant step closer to its strategic goal of further increasing the proportion of industrial and end-customer business in its sales. Continental has financed the acquisition entirely from liquid funds and available lines of credit. Veyance will make an immediate positive contribution to the corporation’s profitability.”
Because of structural concerns expressed by some antitrust authorities, Continental will divest Veyance’s air springs business in NAFTA and its current steel-cord belting business in Brazil.