Plastic Omnium shares soared on Tuesday, like the entire automotive sector, benefiting from a catch-up in a quasi-euphoric stock market, in the hope of diplomatic progress in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
This global movement has pushed into the background the communication this morning of two small operations which come on top of a third presented last week. Plastic Omnium’s mergers and acquisitions department is busy! The two announcements of the day are in the field of electric mobility. The group has entered into exclusive negotiations to acquire Actia Power, a company specializing in the design and manufacture of on-board batteries, power electronics and electrification systems for heavy mobility (trucks, buses, trains, etc.). “It is a complementary activity at the product level of what we have developed in hydrogen. We are convinced that the mobility of tomorrow will be more diverse than that of today and we have the ambition to develop in what is outside of individual mobility (private cars, editor’s note). These are more stable and less competitive sectors,” explains Laurent Favre, CEO of Plastic Omnium.
heavy mobility
Starting from its historic business of manufacturing tanks, Plastic Omnium has been investing for several years in the hydrogen sector, the first concrete outlets of which relate to heavy vehicles. Thus, the group already manufactures hydrogen tanks for buses and will soon produce complete hydrogen systems for this type of vehicle. Its order book in the sector reaches 700 million. With Actia Power, it will also cover the battery power supply demand of this type of customer. This subsidiary of the company Actia, listed on the stock exchange, achieved last year 22 million turnover and employs 200 people. Things should go fairly quickly since Plastic Omnium is talking about a definitive agreement before the end of the second quarter.
At the same time, the equipment manufacturer will invest 20 million euros in Verkor, a young Grenoble company founded in 2020 which already has Schneider Electric, Arkema, Capgemini and above all Renault in its round, which has taken 20% of the capital and signed an agreement. with a view to eventually equipping between 150,000 and 200,000 cars per year with its batteries. It will build a Gigafactory in Dunkirk which should start production in two years. This entry into the capital is coupled with a partnership “We don’t intend to manufacture batteries but it is essential for us to understand cell technology. Furthermore, it is important to have access to capacity for our own battery needs in heavy mobility. Finally, we will be able to develop industrial partnerships in the packs containing the battery cells”, explains Laurent Favre.
Strengthen bumper activity
Last week, Plastic Omnium carried out another operation, this time in the field of lighting, with the acquisition for 65 million euros in enterprise value from ams Osram of its subsidiary AMLS, which manufactures light strips, illuminated grids… “Plastic Omnium is the leader in bumpers, our idea is to directly integrate the light signatures in order to offer a unique offer”, says the CEO. AMLS achieved 148 million turnover last year, of which one third in interior lighting and two thirds in exterior lighting elements, where synergies can be set up with Plastic Omnium.
Like Actia Power, AMLS is currently not making money. “What interests us is the growth of these companies, Actia Power will double in size this year and AMLS will be growing significantly. Thanks to the synergies generated with the acquisition by Plastic Omnium, they should quickly reach satisfactory levels of profitability,” adds Laurent Favre, before concluding: “We want to continue to grow in a changing automotive market. We are targeting growing segments but where there are not yet too many players and where there are therefore places to take and where we can set up synergies”.