Johnson Controls has bought a 5% stake in the seating systems group Tachi-S as part of a new strategic partnership aimed at the Japanese seat sector.
The US company said that the venture would “pursue, develop and manufacture certain global Japanese automotive seat businesses.”
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The alliance will be led by a management committee represented by both companies. As part of the link up, Johnson Controls’ equity stake of Tachi-S will make it the single largest shareholder.
Currently, Johnson Controls and Tachi-S co-operate through various joint ventures in North America, Japan and China.
“Tachi-S brings extensive experience working with Japanese automakers. By teaming up with Tachi-S, Johnson Controls will be able to better serve our Japanese customers.” said Jeffrey Edwards, group vice president, Johnson Controls Automotive Experience. “The equity ownership demonstrates our long term commitment to this alliance and our focus on Japanese automaker business opportunities.”
“Johnson Controls has been a partner with Tachi-S since the 1980s. We are proud to strengthen our strategic alliance relationship with Johnson Controls to increase our global competitiveness.” said Hiroshi Taguchi, president, Tachi-S.P
Earlier this month, Johnson Controls announced that it swung to a fiscal second quarter profit, boosted by much higher revenues in its automotive division.
Johnson Controls posted a profit of USD274m during the first three months of the year, turning around a loss from the same period last year and prompting the supplier to raise its expectations for the year.
The results beat analysts’ forecasts.
