A consortium headed by ChemChina, China’s largest state-run chemical firm, is to acquire Germany’s KraussMaffei Group for €925m from the Canadian private equity firm Onex Corporation, it announced this week. The KraussMaffei Group is among the world’s leading suppliers of machinery and systems for the production and processing of plastics and rubber, and the acquisition would mark the largest investment Chinese investment in a German company so far.
The announcement comes six months after ChemChina secured European Union antitrust approval for its €7.1bn bid for the Italian tyre maker Pirelli and is in line with Beijing’s strategy of encouraging state-run enterprises to invest in overseas assets as a means of securing supplies of raw materials and gaining expertise in international business.
The consortium behind the acquisition also includes Guoxin International Investment Corporation and AGIC Capital. The deal remains subject to antitrust clearance, but ChemChina has pledged to retain the current management and employees as well as to keep KraussMaffei’s headquarters in Munich.
ChemChina to acquire Germany’s KrausMaffei Group for €925m
Source: dailysabah