Teijin has announced that it’s agreed to acquire Continental Structural Plastics, an automotive composite supplier in North America, for $825 million.
CSP will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Teijin. Through this acquisition, Teijin intends to establish the foundations of an automotive composite products business in North America, and to accelerate its expansion as a tier 1 supplier of high-performance composites to the global automotive market.
The shares of CSP will be purchased by Teijin Holdings USA Inc., the Teijin Group’s holding company in the US. The acquisition is scheduled to be completed in December 2016 after satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval.
CSP is a manufacturer of thermoset composites in the automotive industry and is the world’s largest sheet moulding compound (SMC) manufacturer for automakers. Since its establishment in 1969, CSP has provided technologies in lightweight materials and composite solutions such as glass fibre reinforced plastic (GFRP) for the automotive industry.
Headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, US, CSP holds more than 50 patents covering materials development and manufacturing processes in composite materials formulation and design. Its SMC technology have been adopted by various automakers in the US, Europe and Japan. The company has 14 facilities in the US, Mexico, France and China and approximately 3,200 employees. It posted consolidated sales of over USD 634 million in the fiscal year ending December 31, 2015.
Teijin will benefit from CSP’s established sales channels in the North American automotive market, which will enable the combined business to provide a broader range of solutions that meet automakers’ demands for weight reduction and durability, utilising the company’s thermoplastic composite technologies.
Through this transaction, Teijin aims to become an automotive solution provider by expanding its offerings beyond carbon fibre and glass fibre materials, in collaboration with other materials manufacturers. Teijin intends to expand its product portfolio from materials to component design, implement a global supply chain and help achieve vehicle weight reductions in order to comply with tighter environmental regulations being introduced after 2020.