2013 NEWS MAJOR CHINESE COMPANY ACQUIRES COVENTRY PRESSINGS FIRM AND PLANS GLOBAL GROWTH August 2013 Coventry-based Covpress International Holdings (‘Covpress’), a world class pressings supplier with a 123 year history, has been acquired by a major Chinese automotive components supplier in amulti-million pound deal. Covpress, which reported annual sales of £67 million in the year ended 31 December 2012, employs 440 people at its Coventry headquarters in the Canley district of the city. Annual sales of the buyer, Shandong Yongtai, based in mainland China, are approximately £2.7 billion pounds. The company, which was formed in 1996, has total assets of over $1 billion (approximately £650 m). Though largely focused on the automotive market, Covpress also supplies other products such as satellite dishes and gas meter assemblies.The Coventry plant ‘s efficiency is based on a wide range of highly automated presses working 24 hours a day with production backed by a rigorous approach to quality and a focus on skills and teamwork within its workforce. Covpress Managing Director Mike Gillett said: “This Chinese investment is great news for Covpress, its employees, customers and suppliers and also for Coventry and the West Midlands. “The deal will enable the firm to meet its ambition of being a leading global supplier in partnership with its ambitious new owners”. Mr Gillett points out that even before the deal, Covpress had secured very substantial growth, not only in home markets but also in international sales with the latter being driven by growing orders from automotive giants such as Renault and Nissan and more recently by contracted sales volumes for the X82 van. He said: “Additional sales volumes including the X82 van and expansion in business with JLR will mean that we can expect annual sales for the business to hit £90 million by the year 2016. “In response, plans are well advanced to buy and instal a new 1,000 tonne press in the Summer of2013. “The sale of the business to Shandong Yongtai is a huge leap forward for our business. It will help Covpress to support our customers GM and JLR as they expand rapidly in China and it will open many other doors for us there and in other rapidly growing parts of Asia and other parts of the world.” Shandong Yongtai’s general manager Mr You Xiaoming said: “Our plans are to grow our business through increasing our international profile and penetration into European and other world markets and the acquisition of Covpress is an important move for us in this connection. “Our review of the company has confirmed that the achievements of Covpress have been very significant, underpinned by global quality standards and ‘lean’ manufacturing techniques. We are very optimistic about the future of the business”. A company formed to acquire the Covpress business is to be owned as to 70 per cent by Shandong Yongtai and 30 per cent by TIA (GB) Limited. Covpress was previously owned by a combination of its management team and associates of Grove Industries, the West Midlands-based industrial conglomerate. In the eight years since Grove Industries backed a management buy-in at Covpress, the Coventry business has prospered, successfully negotiating one of the worst ever downturns in automotive markets, caused by in the 2007/8 global financial crisis. Representing the former investors in Covpress, Les Litwinowicz, Chief Executive of Grove Industries said: “We are confident that Covpress has a great future with Shangdong Yongtai. “The sale of Covpress into a partnership with a Chinese company with such global ambition is an endorsement of our approach of investing in businesses and working for the long term with experienced and highly skilled managers to achieve growth.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Oct 2013 09:30:15 +0000
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