By Christopher Bjork
MADRID--Privately-owned Grupo Antolin SA said Thursday it is
buying the automobile interiors operations of Magna International
Inc. (MGA) for $525 million, in a deal that will see the Spanish
car parts maker double in size.
Antolin, which is owned by the family with the same name, is
taking over 36 manufacturing operations and roughly 12,000
employees located in Europe, North America and Asia. These
operations had $2.4 billion in sales last year, Magna said in a
separate release. The sale excludes Magna's seating business.
The purchase by the Spanish company comes as car sales are
rising again in Europe following a prolonged economic slump.
The company said its 2014 revenues grew almost 7% to 2.23
billion euros ($2.37 billion).
Grupo Antolin, which began as a mechanics garage specializing in
repairing agriculture machinery more than 60 years ago, already
provides components for interiors of most of the world's largest
car manufacturers from factories in 25 countries.
The purchase of the Magma assets will increase Antolin's number
of employees to 27,000, the group said.
Write to Christopher Bjork at christopher.bjork@wsj.com
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