2024-09-18 05:22:16
Only recently, the Franconian company Leoni saved itself from bankruptcy. Now it is being sold to a Chinese electronics supplier.
The Austrian entrepreneur Stefan Pierer is selling the majority of the Nuremberg cable and wiring system specialist Leoni, which was acquired only last year, to China. 50.1 percent of the shares in Leoni AG are to go to the electronics supplier Luxshare, Leoni announced. A corresponding agreement has been signed.
The agreement has a “mid-three-digit million value,” said a Leoni spokesman. According to Luxshare, the purchase price is 320 million euros. Leoni’s cable division will also be 100 percent owned by a joint venture led by Luxshare. The competition authorities still have to approve it.
Luxshare from Shenzhen manufactures cables for computers and components for tech companies such as Apple, among other things. The entry into Leoni could enable the Nuremberg-based company to offer more integrated solutions for electric cars. “Luxshare as a strong strategic partner will significantly advance Leoni’s competitiveness in all areas – from expanding the portfolio and market access to technological capabilities and production,” explained Leoni Managing Director Klaus Rinnerberger.
Like industry giants Bosch, ZF and Continental, Leoni is part of the large network of suppliers for the German automotive industry. The industry is currently going through difficult times against the backdrop of the drive shift towards e-mobility. At the same time, it is exposed to tough international competition, particularly from Chinese industrial companies.
A year ago, the Austrian entrepreneur Stefan Pierer became the sole owner of the ailing Nuremberg-based automotive supplier. The shares of the old shareholders were set to zero as part of a spectacular rescue operation and the company was taken off the stock exchange to avoid insolvency. Pierer had provided a capital injection of 150 million euros.
Shareholder advocates had sharply criticized the move. From the company’s perspective, it had become necessary after the sale of the cable division to a Thai investor, which had been planned at the time to reduce debt, had unexpectedly fallen through.
Leoni employs around 95,000 people worldwide and generated sales of around 5.46 billion euros last year. The cable and wiring system specialist had accumulated debts in the course of its international expansion and then began to falter as a result of the corona pandemic and the war in Ukraine.