Carbon Fibre Manufacturer Teijin To Acquire Automotive Composite Supplier Continental Structural Plastics

Carbon fibre manufacturer Teijin to acquire automotive composite supplier Continental Structural Plastics

17-Sep-16

Teijin Limited has recently announced that it has agreed to acquire Continental Structural Plastics Holdings Corporation (CSP), for USD 825 million. CSP will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Teijin. 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 among the leading manufacturers of thermoset composites in the automotive industry and is one of the world’s largest sheet molding compound (SMC) manufacturers 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 and approximately 3,200 employees.
Teijin will benefit from CSP’s established sales channels in the North American automotive market, which will enable the combined business to provide a broader range of solutions that meet automakers’ demands for weight reduction and durability, utilizing the company’s thermoplastic composite technologies.
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.
Jun Suzuki, President and CEO of Teijin Limited, commented:
“Since being appointed as Teijin’s president in January 2014, I have pursued business models that help provide value-added solutions by combining and integrating our own materials, healthcare and IT technologies. We are confident that the platform for automotive composite products business we will gain through the acquisition of CSP’s complementary technical expertise in thermoset composites and GFRP know-how will trigger further development of our integrated high-performance materials business, one of our key strategic fields. Utilizing such synergy effects, and as outlined in our 2014 Transformation and Growth Strategies in Revised Medium-Term Management Plan, Teijin aims to provide consistent upstream-to-downstream solutions and realize one of the company’s growth concepts, which is high-performance materials technologies that create new value. The Teijin Group will continue to evolve, aiming to become a company that supports future society leveraging our core strengths in integrated high-performance materials and healthcare.”

Teijin is implementing a solutions-oriented business model as part of its long-term management vision, with development of composite applications for mass-produced automotive components one of its priorities in the field of high-performance fibers. Environmental concerns such as CO₂ emission reductions and improvements in fuel efficiency are now global issues; accelerated development of tough and lightweight eco-friendly composite components is therefore a pressing task in the automotive industry. Teijin is now focused on establishing a platform for business development in automotive composite products, aiming to provide a wider range of solutions for automakers.