Datwyler gains foothold in South American automotive industry.

Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR SIX Swiss Exchange |
The takeover of Brazilian company BINS will improve access to South America’s automo-tive industry for Datwyler’s Sealing Solutions division. The company is thus closing a key geographical gap in its Automotive market segment and now has production plants in all its relevant markets.

With a strategically important acquisition in its Sealing Solutions division, Datwyler is securing improved access to the South American automotive supply industry, signing a contract to take over the Brazilian company BINS Indústria de Artefatos de Borracha Ltda on 23 August 2018. The deal is due to be concluded on 31 August 2018 subject to the fulfilment of the usual conditions for completion. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

Many years’ experience complete with in-house mould and die production and mixing facility

A family-owned company, BINS was set up in 1953 and boasts extensive experience in developing and manufacturing elastomer seals for the automotive industry. Like Datwyler, BINS also makes its own moulds and dies and runs its own mixing facility. Alongside its OEM activities, BINS operates in the spare parts business with imported commercial products and in the industrial segment with other seal components. BINS employs some 350 people and generates annual revenue of around CHF 20 million. Following the most recent recession in Brazil, it is back on course to achieve profitable growth. The current management team will be retained to ensure continuity in the company's further development. BINS’s plant is located not far from Porto Alegre in the southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul, one of Brazil’s most important industrial centres.

Geographical expansion

With BINS, the company is closing a key geographical gap in its Automotive market segment and now has its own production plants in all its relevant automotive markets. As a leading manufacturer of elastomer seals for the automotive industry, BINS is opening up the Brazilian automotive market – the sixth-largest in the world – to the Datwyler Group. Following the country’s most recent recession, market observers are expecting a return to growth, including in carmaking. Datwyler will utilise BINS’s distribution network to offer both carmakers in Brazil and existing customers in South America its full range of products, including O-rings and thermoplastic and silicone components.