Trelleborg has finalized the acquisition of ?GS Holding, a privately-owned company with leading positions in agricultural, industrial and specialty tires as well as engineered polymer solutions. The total cash consideration amounted to approximately Skr 10.9 bn (US$1.3bn) on a cash and debt-free basis. ?GS is headquartered in the Czech Republic and generated sales of approximately Skr 5.6bn (US$674.4m) in 2015, with an operating margin of 16.5%.
“It is highly gratifying to welcome ?GS to the Trelleborg Group. The company has long been on our list of interesting acquisitions. The acquisition means that Trelleborg will almost double its sales in agricultural tires, strengthen its leading position in industrial tires and add new positions in complementary specialty tires segments. ?GS’s engineered polymer solutions add new interesting positions as well as strengthen Trelleborg’s existing leading positions in several of the Group’s current business areas,” says Peter Nilsson, president and CEO of Trelleborg.
?GS Holding includes the businesses Mitas, Rubena and Savatech. Mitas accounts for approximately two-thirds of group sales and has strong mid-market specialty tires brands with a particularly strong position within agricultural tires. The offering of specialty tires is complemented by Rubena’s and Savatech’s niche engineered polymer solutions businesses, including seals, sealing profiles, specialty molded products, printing blankets and other engineered fabrics.
“We are convinced the agricultural market will recover, enabling us to benefit from an attractive footprint when it does. Accordingly, we consider the purchase consideration to be attractive considering the expected synergies and the future recovery of the agricultural market,” concludes Nilsson.
Mitas will be integrated into the Trelleborg Wheel Systems business area. During transition, other operations will be independent from Trelleborg’s existing operations before being gradually integrated into current business areas.
Following the acquisition, Trelleborg will have sales of about Skr 30 billion (US$3.6bn), with about 23,000 employees in 47 countries.
The transaction will be consolidated from May 31, 2016. Non-recurring costs of approximately Skr 70m (US$8.4m), related to the acquisition, will be charged to the second quarter of 2016. Of this amount, about Skr 50m (US$6m) will be charged against reported operating income and about Skr 20m (US$2.4m) will be charged to net financial items. No PPA effects are included in the above amounts.
