BorgWarner Inc. has purchased approximately 62% of the outstanding shares of German-based Beru AG from The Carlyle Group and family shareholders for €59 per share or approximately €367 million ($490 million at the current exchange rate of 1.335).
"Having a majority ownership in Beru gives us additional access to the fast-growing diesel market and enhances our sensor and engine electronics expertise,” says BorgWarner chairman and chief executive officer Timothy M. Manganello. “We intend to maintain Beru as a stand-alone business of BorgWarner within our Engine Group and do not anticipate employment changes as a result of this transaction."
The transaction is expected to be accretive to earnings beginning in 2005. Beru results will be consolidated within the BorgWarner Engine Group beginning in the first quarter of 2005.
Among other products, Beru, based in Ludwigsburg, Germany, manufactures tire pressure and other sensors, and diesel cabin heaters. Its major customers include BMW, DCX, GM/Fiat, VW/Audi, Ford, Porsche, PSA, Renault, Isuzu, Siemens VDO, Valeo, Deutz and MAN.
BorgWarner named William C. (Skip) Cline vice president, acquisition coordination and special projects, a post in which he will lead the BorgWarner task force for the Beru acquisition and provide coordination between the two companies. He had been vice president and controller of BorgWarner.
