Finland-based global engineering and technology company Metso Corporation has announced that Finnish investment companies Pontos Group and Finnish Industry Investment Ltd have each agreed to invest through a directed share issue €10 million into Metso's fully-owned subsidiary Valmet Automotive, a Finland-based provider of engineering, manufacturing and business services for the automotive industry, thereby giving them a total shareholding of 34 percent in Valmet Automotive.
According to a Metso statement, it has been agreed that Valmet Automotive's key management will also invest in Valmet Automotive. Metso's share of ownership will after these arrangements be in excess of 60 percent. The owners will not exclude new investors from joining in.
Valmet Automotive has recently signed an agreement to acquire Karmann's convertible roof business in Germany and Poland, which will form the fourth business line of the company. The completion of the transaction is subject to receipt of the necessary regulatory permits, probably to be finalized at the end of this year. The price of the transaction was not disclosed.
Karmann's convertible roof business currently employs over 700 people in Osnabrück, Germany, and Zary, Poland. The net sales of the business to be acquired are estimated to be about €180 million in 2010.