Japanese Group buys component manufacturer Inapal

The Portuguese company Inapal Plastics, with factories for car parts in Leça do Bailio and in the Autoeuropa park in Palmela, was taken over by a Japanese industrial group specializing in high-quality materials, Teijin.

The Asian multinational wants to expand the activities in the European automotive sector with Portuguese activities and create synergies between the activities of Inapal and those of Continental Structural Plastics, the American group that it acquired in 2016.

The agreement for the sale of the company by ECS Capital, which was responsible for the restructuring of Inapal since 2010, was announced on Wednesday. Teijin said in a statement that the purchase was made at the beginning of August and that it plans to develop expansion opportunities, to invest in growth and to create value. Company value has not been announced.

In its portfolio Teijin brings together companies that produce carbon fiber into resins, plastics, textiles and pharmaceuticals. Inapal produces plastic components and other composite materials for light and heavy vehicles.

The chairman of the Japanese group, Jun Suzuki, defended the strategic direction of the deal in a statement. "We promote our integrated composite technologies and strong, strong and lightweight materials as one of the key focus of transformation strategies in our medium-term management plan," he said.

Last year, according to ECS Capital, Inapal Plastics earned approximately 32 million euros in sales in Spain, France, Germany, England, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, Turkey or China. Among the buyer brands were Jaguar Land Rover, BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Bentley, Aston Martin and Carrier.

Besides the Portuguese company, Teijin acquired the German J.H. Ziegler, supplier of interiors for cars & # 39; s. In 2016, it acquired the North American Continental Structural Plastics (CSP) for an amount of $ 825 million.

"With the acquisition of Inapal, we can deliver on the promise made to shareholders to expand our technologies globally, including in Europe.We will strive for synergies by leveraging the business opportunities of CSP, Ziegler and Inapal, so that we can continue to grow as suppliers of multi-material components, "Suzuki said in a statement.

Steve Rooney, CEO of CSP, also said that Inapal's entry into the group "positions CSP and is a world leader in the lightweight composite industry."