Consolidation: Conti acquires Siemens VDO
Continental AG, which paid approximately $1 billion in April a year ago for Motorola’s automotive electronics business, is now investing $15.6 billion (€11.4 billion) to acquire Siemens VDO Automotive AG. It’s Continental’s largest-ever purchase. With combined sales of $34.3 billion (€25 billion) and a work force of nearly 140,000, the firm will rank in the automotive electronics industry’s top five. The deal is expected to be closed in Q4 and the firms integrated by the end of 2009. There’s no word yet on workforce reduction or the effect of the merger on specific product lines.