Acquisition of a majority stake in Preh by Joyson now legally effective – German Federal Minister of Economics and Technology Rösler and high-level Chinese economic delegation attend signing
The acquisition of a majority stake in Preh GmbH, Bad Neustadt, Germany by Joyson Investment Holding Co., Ltd, Ningbo, China announced on April 8, 2011 has now become legally effective following approval by the respective authorities. As a consequence, Joyson now holds a 74.9% stake in Preh; the remaining 25.1% is held by the previous majority partner, Deutsche Beteiligungs AG, Frankfurt am Main, as well as investment funds that it manages (“DBAG Group”) and Preh management.
The closing of the contract took place on the occasion of the sixth meeting of the German-Chinese Forum for Economic and Technological Cooperation held in Berlin. Attending the signing ceremony were German Federal Minister of Economics and Technology Dr. Philipp Rösler, and Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) Zhang Xiaoqiang.
Federal Minister of Economics and Technology Dr. Philipp Rösler during his speech at the signing of more than 20 German-Chinese economic agreements – including the closing of the Preh majority stake acquisition by Joyson.
For Preh, the alliance with Joyson represents the decisive step in accessing the Chinese growth market. At the same time, it sets the course for maximum continuity with regard to strategy and personnel. In addition to the board of management positions that will remain unchanged (chairman: Dr. Michael Roesnick, finance/controlling: Dr. Ernst-Rudolf Bauer and sales / marketing / project management: Christoph Hummel), Charlie Cai, who is responsible for the Chinese market, was added to the Preh executive board. Dr. Rolf Scheffels from DBAG will continue to chair the Preh GmbH supervisory board. In addition to two Joyson representatives, Jeff Wang and Jimmy Guo, and two employee representatives, Dr. Willibert Schleuter will sit on the supervisory board as an automotive expert. Within the Joyson Group, Preh will assume the control function for global automotive electronics activities.
Preh’s vigorous growth is continuing in the current fiscal year: In the first half of 2011, sales will increase by more than 20% over the same period in the previous year. For all of 2011, Preh management is expecting strong growth to sales of over €400 million (automotive sales in 2010: €343 million).
“The alliance with our Chinese investor, Joyson, has created a rapidly growing technology company with well over €500 million in sales,” explained Dr. Michael Roesnick, Chairman of Preh’s Board of Management. “Joyson and Preh are an ideal fit because of their complementary product portfolios and roots in different market regions. We will use this as a foundation to jointly take on the European, North American and Asian automotive markets. At the same time, the compositions of the board of management and supervisory board, as well as the strong technological lead function of Preh within the Joyson group will continue to ensure maximum continuity for our customers and employees.”
The Preh group of companies is active globally and has more than 2,500 employees in Germany, Portugal, Mexico, the U.S.A., China and Romania. Its headquarters is in Bad Neustadt an der Saale, Germany. The company was founded in 1919. In 2010, Preh achieved sales of €351 million, including sales from a non-automotive business that has now been spun off. Preh’s areas of engineering and manufacturing competence are focused on interior climate control and driver control systems, sensors, ECUs and manufacturing systems for major automobile manufacturers.
