WABCO Expands in North American Commercial Vehicle Market
WABCO Holdings Inc., a leading global supplier of technologies and services for commercial vehicles, announced that it will further expand its commitment and operations in the commercial vehicle market in North America by taking full ownership of the Meritor WABCO joint venture.
WABCO has signed an agreement to purchase Meritor, Inc.’s stake in the joint venture business for $250 million. Meritor WABCO, employing approximately 200 persons, is headquartered in Troy, Michigan, U.S.A. and had sales of $300 million in fiscal year 2016. It currently sells and distributes a range of WABCO’s safety and efficiency technologies for commercial vehicles in North America.
With this agreement, WABCO will take over the former joint venture’s application engineering and supply chain operations, including the distribution center and customer service hub in Hebron, Kentucky.
Additionally, WABCO will continue to have exclusive access to a winter test track in Sault St. Marie, Michigan, and joint access to a year-round test track in East Liberty, Ohio.
The agreement to take full control of the joint-venture business will also enable WABCO to offer North America its consolidated portfolio of products and systems from wheel-end solutions, air disc brakes, and autonomous braking to electronic stability and active steering control systems.
Following closure of the buyout, WABCO has agreed for Meritor to continue to be its exclusive distributor for a certain range of WABCO’s Aftermarket products in the U.S. and Canada, and its non-exclusive distributor in Mexico.
The transaction is expected to close on October 1, 2017 and immediately prior to closing, Meritor will receive a final closing partnership distribution.
“By unifying our North America team, WABCO can unlock further value for our customers, including offering them seamless access to WABCO’s powerful technology and services portfolio, backed by the flexibility and efficiency of an integrated global supply chain,” said Jacques Esculier, WABCO Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
As the commercial vehicle industry advances toward fully-autonomous vehicles, WABCO is increasingly mobilizing levels of vehicle intelligence and connectivity to help enable safer and more productive trucks, buses and trailers.
“By combining our organization under one brand and leadership structure, we can leverage and deploy, here in North America, the full breadth of WABCO’s leading technology portfolio to serve customers directly – as we do in the rest of the world,” said Jon Morrison, WABCO President, Americas.
Category: General Update, News
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