The Brose Group and Volkswagen AG have signed an agreement to establish a joint venture that will develop and manufacture complete seats, seat structures and components along with products for the vehicle interior.
Brose will acquire half of Volkswagen subsidiary Sitech. Supplier and automaker will each hold a 50% share of the planned joint venture. The parties have agreed that Brose will take over the industrial leadership and consolidate the joint venture for accounting purposes. The transaction is still pending antitrust law approvals and other standard closing conditions.
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The parent company of the new joint venture will continue to operate from its headquarters in the Polish town of Polkowice. In addition to existing development and production sites in eEastern Europe, Germany and China, plans are under way to expand activities in Europe, America and Asia. Both companies will be represented equally on the board, with Brose providing the CEO and the CTO. Volkswagen will appoint the CFO and will also be responsible for production.
The joint venture aims to take on a leading position as a global player in the hard-fought market for vehicle seats. First, the joint venture plans to expand its business with the VW Group. Second, the new, highly innovative system supplier for complete seats, seat components and seat structures also plans to capture a significant share of business from OEMs that are not part of the VW Group. SITECH anticipates sales of around EUR1.4bn during the current fiscal year, generated by a workforce that is over 5,200 strong. The joint venture is expected to double business volume to EUR2.8bn by 2030. The number of employees is expected to rise to around 7,000. This would translate into a growth in the employment rate of about one third, which should benefit all sites of the joint venture if possible.
