Haldex chairman Joergen Durban has welcomed ZF's divestment of its stake in his company, adding he hoped Knorr-Bremse would do likewise.
"I might go so far as to call it an early Christmas present to both Haldex and our customers. If I could wish for another, it would be that Knorr-Bremse should now be inspired by the message and begin the process of selling its stake as well," Durban said in a statement issued after ZF announced it had sold its holding "and thereby now leaves Haldex on Friday morning".
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ZF Friedrichshafen AG, for its part, confirmed in a statement, it had, through its wholly-owned subsidiary ZF International BV, "successfully placed 8.9m shares in Haldex AB with institutional investors".
ZF added the stake it sold was about 20% of Haldex's outstanding share capital, divested for SEK50 per slice, "and represents a full sell down by ZF in Haldex. ZF has no longer a strategic interest in a stake in Haldex".
Added Haldex: "Although the company already announced on 12 September that a sale was to be expected, Haldex is pleasantly surprised that the process went so fast.
"We knew that ZF was very anxious to remove everything that was in the way of getting the Wabco deal approved by the competition authorities but I am still surprised that they have moved with such high pace to solve this in only one week," said Durban.
Haldex said it believes the ZF sale "will open more doors for strategic partnerships".
It added the ZF move "comes at an almost optimal time since more and more people are starting to realise that the entire industry is currently facing a shift in technology with self-driving and electrification as the key components".
"The fact is that Haldex has an advantage in certain technology areas linked to the technology shift.
"However, one of our owners having had interests in two competing players on the brake market has meant that we were not fully regarded as a long-term partner for several customers, as our perhaps even immediate future was perceived as uncertain," Durban added.
Haldex did not want to speculate on who acquired ZF's shares.
Said Durban: "…For both our customers and us it is more important that ZF leaves than Haldex acquiring a 'perfect' owner. Of course, this also applies to Knorr-Bremse.
"I will therefore sit down with our legal advisers next week to see what means we have for getting Knorr-Bremse to sell as well."
