The Pawan Kumar Ruia Group on Tuesday said it had acquired a France-based automotive sealing manufacturer, SEALYNX Automotive, having a turnover of ¤98 million in 2010, for an undisclosed amount.
The company was going through a tough time since the economic slowdown and in December 2010, a commercial court at Nanterre had appointed an administrator to run it. The court has endorsed the takeover by the Ruias and it has been renamed Ruia SEALYNX SAS.
With the acquisition, the sealing business of the Group reaches a top line of ¤600 mn ($850 mn). As the Ruia Group entered into binding agreements to acquire two automotive sealing systems manufacturing companies — Turkey-based Standard Profil and Germany-based Meteor Gummiwerke — in the first week of May, it will be having five sealing system companies under its belt with this new venture.
The Ruia Group forayed into the business of automotive sealing in 2008, with Schlegel Automotive in Britain. In 2009, the Group added Draftex Automotive GmbH of Germany to its fold.
Now it is eyeing a global leadership position in the segment. “The Group is now positioned to address opportunities arising out of new markets and countries. While keeping our focus on emerging as the global leader in auto ancillaries, we envisage leveraging the state-of-the art technology and extend quality sealing solutions to the booming auto industry of India, Brazil and other developing countries,” group chairman Pawan K Ruia said.
The Group is also mulling the option of floating separate holding companies to run each of its various overseas business.
“The challenge before us now is to integrate all these companies. We would like to have separate holding companies for the sealing business, the fasteners business and one may be for other miscellaneous operations,” he said.