Teijin Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan; www.teijin.com)has agreed to acquire Continental Structural Plastics Holdings Corp. (CSP), a leading automotive composite supplier in North America, for $825 million. CSP will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Teijin. Through this acquisition, Teijin intends to establish the foundations of an automotive composite products business in North America.
The shares of CSP will be purchased by Teijin Holdings USA Inc., the Teijin Group’s holding company in the US. The acquisition is scheduled to be completed in December 2016 after satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval.
CSP is a leading manufacturer of thermoset composites in the automotive industry and is the world’s largest sheet-molding-compound (SMC) manufacturer for automakers. Since its establishment in 1969, CSP has provided leading-edge technologies in lightweight materials and composite solutions such as glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) for the automotive industry. Headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, US, CSP provides full-service engineering support, and holds more than 50 patents covering materials development and manufacturing processes in composite materials formulation and design. Its Class A surfaces produced by its SMC technology have been adopted by various automakers in the US, Europe and Japan. The company has 14 facilities in the US, Mexico, France and China.
The integration of CSP’s technical expertise in thermoset composites and Teijin’s leadership in complementary thermoplastics creates significant synergies for comprehensive multi-material applications to meet diversified demands from the automotive industry. Through this transaction, Teijin aims to become an automotive solution provider by expanding its offerings beyond carbon fiber and glass fiber materials, in collaboration with other materials manufacturers. Teijin intends to expand its product portfolio from materials to component design, implement a global supply chain and help achieve vehicle weight reductions in order to comply with tighter environmental regulations being introduced after 2020.