The transaction for the acquisition of B&W Fahrzeugentwicklung GmbH by the globally active engineering service provider FEV was completed on July 2, 2018, following clearance by the German Federal Cartel Office. With this strategic step, FEV aims to expand its expertise and capacities in the “Complete Vehicle Development” business segment: “With the integration of B&W into the FEV Group, we are expanding our capacities and gaining important employees with engineering know-how in these key areas of vehicle development,” says Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stefan Pischinger, President and CEO of the FEV Group.
B&W Fahrzeugentwicklung GmbH, headquartered in Wolfsburg, is a specialized automotive engineering service provider with over 300 employees. With locations in Germany, Shanghai, and Mexico, B&W offers its customers solutions in the areas of body-in-white, interior, exterior, surface design, model making, testing, and electrical/electronic systems. With its subsidiary EDL Rethschulte GmbH, B&W also expands its expertise in the field of lighting technology.
“With our expertise in body-in-white development, lighting technology, exterior, interior, and surface design, we are convinced that B&W will be an important part of the FEV Group […] from the development of individual modules to entire bodies, we can offer our automotive customers worldwide everything from a single source,” explains Haraldo Brandenburg, Managing Director and former shareholder of B&W Fahrzeugentwicklung GmbH.
The FEV Group, headquartered in Aachen and with more than 40 locations worldwide, is an internationally recognized service provider in vehicle development. With more than 5,300 employees, FEV’s expertise ranges from consulting, development, and testing of innovative vehicle concepts through to series production readiness. In addition to engine and transmission development, vehicle integration, calibration, and homologation of modern gasoline and diesel engines, the development of hybrid and electrified drive systems as well as alternative fuels is becoming increasingly important. The further development of electronic controls as well as the advancing networking and automation of vehicles are also key areas of focus for its experts.
i-capital acted as sell-side M&A advisor for the transaction (lead: Torben Seikowsky, Christian Stahl, Oleksandr Molchanov). The sellers were legally advised by Luther Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH. On the buyer’s side, the transaction was supported by a team from PwC.
