Metair Acquires 99% Stake in Rombat

The negotiations took over a year and were finalized on March 14th, when the contracts were signed. Metair has acquired a 99.16% stake in Romania's leading car battery manufacturer Rombat SA for €42.8 million.

Theo Loock, Managing Director of Metair, stated: “Our investment in Rombat shows our confidence in Romania as country, Rombat as a business and the people in Rombat. We are proud to be the new shareholder in Rombat and now look forward to create a long and sustainable future for the business.” “We are glad that our new owner is Metair. The Metair Group is a strategic investor for us, being present in the same industrial field, the automotive components. We are convinced that the new shareholder will sustain further the development of Rombat SA. Therefore, we can look forward to a safer future for the employees of the company, for our customers, for a stronger company in Romania and, why not, in Europe.

We are honored that the Metair representatives have appreciated Rombat’s performance, as there were negotiations with other companies from this area. We have registered great results during the last years and I would like to thank the employees, partners and former shareholders for that”, stated Rombat’s CEO Ioan Repede.

Metair Investments Limited Group consists of companies manufacturing and distributing products predominantly for the automotive industry. The group includes First National Battery (the leading battery manufacturer in South Africa, with a production of over 2.2 million units a year), Lumotech, Hesto harnesses, Smiths Manufacturing, Smiths Plastics, Supreme Spring and Ate, Tenneco Automotive Holdings, Unitrade and Valeo Systems South Africa. Among the Metair clients are Daimler Chrysler, General Motors, Nissan, Toyota, Volkswagen, BMW and MAN. The group registered last year revenues of €429.4 million, up 14,4% from 2010. With the acquisition of the majority holding at Rombat, Metair enters the European producers’ market.