Teijin announced that it will acquire 100% of Benet Automotive S.r.o, the Czech leader in automotive composites and components. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Benet, headquartered in Mlada Boreslav, Czech Republic, is a tier one supplier of composite components for the automotive industry, providing advanced technologies for carbon fiber reinforced and glass fiber reinforced plastic molding, as well as painting and assembly of vehicles. The company specializes in reinforced reaction injection molding (RRIM), a low-pressure process using polyurethane; and traditional autoclave and resin transfer molding (RTM). Benet has three plants in the Czech Republic and one in Germany to serve European automotive OEMs, including Volkswagen, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, and Skoda. The company has 720 employees and had sales of 35.2 million euros in fiscal 2018.
Teijin is developing its automotive composites business with its proprietary lightweight, high-performance materials and superior design capabilities. In Europe, Teijin acquired Inapal Plásticos SA, Portugal's leading automotive composites supplier, in August 2018; and is installing a glass and carbon fiber board molding compound (GF-SMC and CF-SMC) production line at Continental Structural Plastic's French plant Continental Structural Plastic, a global leader in automotive composites based in North America, was acquired by Teijin in January 2017.
Benet is strategically close to the central and eastern parts of the European market, where major German and other European original equipment manufacturers operate production facilities. The company's proven supply track record will provide Teijin with a solid foundation for further strengthening its solution development capabilities and sales channels in Europe.
As part of a multi-material strategy, Teijin will leverage Benet's capabilities in existing development projects to develop innovative chemistry with Teijin and CSP's outstanding materials and molding technologies and technical team members to provide innovative automotive composite solutions to meet customers Future demands for light weight, toughness, design flexibility, productivity and cost effectiveness. Teijin's goal is to achieve sales of 1.7 billion euros in its comprehensive automotive business by 2030.