French car parts maker Faurecia, majority owned by auto giant Peugeot Citroen, said on Nov. 2 it plants to take over U.S. emissions reduction technology manufacturer EMCON Technologies.
EMCON had sales of 2.4 billion euros (US$3.5 billion) last year, compared to Faurecia's 12 billion.
The U.S. firm's operations will be merged with Faurecia's car exhaust division, and executives hope the new unit's sales will come in at over 5.2 billion euros per year. It is also hoping to be the industry leader in clean exhaust technology.
The French firm said it would issue 20.9 million new shares to pay for the deal, which will therefore involve no cash payment and have no impact on the group's overall debt level. Following the share issue, PSA Peugeot Citroen's share of Faurecia's capital will fall from 57.4% to 71%.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2009
