Johnson Controls Paid More Than EUR10 Million For Romanian Automotive Supplier

12.09.2011 By Bogdan Alecu

US group Johnson Controls, which owns four automotive component plants in Romania, paid EUR10 to EUR15 million to buy the auto division of Spumotim Timisoara, which makes polyurethane foam for the automotive industry, market sources told ZF.

This is the first deal of a component maker on the local market this year and the value was not officially disclosed.

Spumotim's consultant was law firm Schoenherr, and the Competition Council approved the deal on November 30.

The US group bought the auto division of Spumotim because it sees Romania as a significant part of the auto market growth in Eastern Europe, as well as to be able to fill all the orders coming from Dacia and Ford in Romania and Fiat in Serbia.

Ford Romania will begin manufacturing of the B-Max car in Craiova in 2012 and will probably make more than 100,000 units a year.

Dacia is also expected to start manufacturing of the second generation of the Logan model, which will lead to an increase in the number of cars assembled, while Renault Industrie Romania will export CKD (completely knocked down) kits of the Dacia Lodgy model to the new plant in Tangiers, Morocco. Furthermore, Fiat will begin production of two new models in the former Zastava plant in Serbia, at a rate of 200,000 units a year that may go up to 300,000.

(English version by Loredana Fratila)