The KraussMaffei Group (KraussMaffei) completed its listing on the Shanghai stock exchange on the 28./29. December 2018. The listing occurred through the transfer of ChemChina’s stake in KraussMaffei to ChemChina’s majority owned subsidiary THY (Qingdao Tianhua Institute of Chemistry Engineering), which is listed on the Shanghai stock exchange. In addition, THY has taken over ChemChina’s production site in Sanming, China. New injection molding machines for the Chinese market will be manufactured at this site in the future.
Dr. Frank Stieler and Dr. Harald Nippel, CEO and CFO of KraussMaffei, will lead the new integrated mechanical engineering company. The combined business will operate under the brand KraussMaffei. KraussMaffei generates more than 80 percent of the approximately 1.5 bn Euro revenue of the total entity. “We are very happy - something big is being created! We now have the opportunity to drive our growth even faster and better. The listing provides us with access to the Chinese capital market. This step will significantly strengthen us in China as well as globally,” said Dr. Frank Stieler, CEO of KraussMaffei. “With the additional production site in Sanming we can further expand our presence in China. At the same time, we will drive our international business from Germany,” Stieler explains.
KraussMaffei is seeking to accelerate growth
KraussMaffei is a world leading supplier of machinery and systems for producing and processing plastics and rubber. The access to the Chinese capital market enables KraussMaffei to further accelerate its growth. The access to new financial resources is to contribute to the strategy “Compass”. “We are expanding our product portfolio with new machinery series for volume markets and are broadening our digital services business. We are rapidly advancing local business models, especially in China,” explains Stieler. With the strategy “Compass”, KraussMaffei is focusing on expanding its business models, especially in the area of digital services. In July 2018, the company launched the new Digital Service Solutions business unit for this purpose.
KraussMaffei intends to significantly expand its presence in China. KraussMaffei will take on the operational responsibility for the integrated production site in Sanming, China. The site will produce newly developed injection molding machinery for the local Chinese market for KraussMaffei. Due to the rising demand for such products with high quality standards, KraussMaffei is expecting an annual sales growth of over 20 percent (CAGR) in China in the coming years. The existing business of THY will be continued. THY is a leading design institute and specialty engineering company for components required in chemical plant construction.
Employee representatives and IG Metall welcome the opportunities of capital market access in China
KraussMaffei will continue to lead its business from the company headquarters in Munich, Germany. The German codetermination rights, the legal status of the KraussMaffei Group GmbH as well as employee and union agreements remain unchanged. The rights to technologies also remain bundled in Germany.
The employee representatives and IG Metall welcome this step to the capital market. “We are convinced of the growth opportunities offered by the access to the Chinese capital market. The transaction is a positive development for KraussMaffei and offers opportunities to secure and create jobs also in Germany,” says Susanne Meyer, Deputy Chairwomen of the works council of KraussMaffei.
The IG Metall also welcomes this development. “ChemChina remains a reliable partner and as promised is sticking to its plans for KraussMaffei. We are convinced of the opportunities offered by the transaction in China,” says Horst Lischka, Company Representative of the IG Metall responsible for Munich and member of the Chairman’s Committee of the Supervisory Board of KraussMaffei.
ChemChina remains majority shareholder of THY
Since April 2016, ChemChina, the leading Chinese chemicals company, is majority owner of KraussMaffei. ChemChina remains majority shareholder of KraussMaffei via THY and will continue to support the future growth of the company. ChemChina’s shares in THY are subject to a holding period of three years. The majority owned subsidiary of ChemChina is listed on the Shanghai stock exchange under the ticker symbol 600579.SS.
