
Belgian powertrain company Punch Powertrain is to be sold to Chinese conglomerate Yinyi Group. The group, which will acquire 100% of Punch, reached an agreement on 6th March with Punch Powertrain shareholders LRM, Gimv, Capricorn, and New Horizon. "In Yinyi Group we found the right partner to support us in the ambition to further grow and expand internationally," said Cor van Otterloo, CEO of Punch Powertrain. "To achieve this ambition, our Belgian R&D team is set to further expand from around 300 engineers to around 700 in the coming five years. The operations team will also expand accordingly. This will allow the company to continue to develop new cutting-edge technologies. On top, plant capacity will jump from 300,000 to over a million units per year, both in Belgium and in China."
Significance: The Yinyi Group covers a wide range of industries with a strong presence in mining minerals in China and in Brazil, Chile, Indonesia, Mexico and the Philippines. The company also owns Yingzhan Steel Industry and Trade Group. In the automotive industry Yinyi Group includes companies that produce aluminium rims for cars as well as airbag inflators. In a company press release Punch Powertrain claims the acquisition will bring no changes to its name, organisation, management team and locations and that the company's new owners support growth and aim to double its team within the next five years to make it a global player. The transaction is still subject to regulatory conditions.