ArvinMeritor said on Wednesday that it had agreed to buy the remaining 51% interest it does not already own in German joint venture Zeuna Starker GmbH & Co. for about $US75 million, Reuters reported.

According to the news agency, ArvinMeritor said it was buying out the venture, which specialises in exhausts and emissions technology, in order to create a complete range of emissions products and expects to close the deal in the second quarter of 2003.

ArvinMeritor become a 49% partner in Zeuna Starker in 1998, Reuters added.