MAN SE buys 25 percent stake in China's Sinotruk
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German truckmaker MAN SE (MANG.DE) will pay 560 million euros ($786.7 million) to get a 25 percent plus one share stake in Chinese peer Sinotruk (3808.HK), MAN said, booting its presence in Asia's top market.
The price it is paying marks a 21 percent premium to Hong Kong-listed Sinotruk's average share price over the past 60 days. MAN will buy ordinary shares and take part in a capital increase as well, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
Sinotruk has around a fifth of the market for heavy trucks in China and sold more than 100,000 heavy trucks in 2008, MAN said. Its new partner generated revenue worth of around 2.5 billion euros and EBIT of 122 million euros last year.
MAN will license its TGA truck, engine, chassis and axle technology to Sinotruk, which will contribute its manufacturing and sales network to the partnership.
"This important partnership is based on the good relationship we have had with Sinotruk for many years. MAN's investment in Sinotruk lays the foundation for the joint development of a new heavy truck series tailored to emerging markets," MAN Chief Executive Hakan Samuelsson said.
Shares in MAN, which on Tuesday announced a reorganisation into two core businesses, gained 3.7 percent to 46.04 euros by 1104 GMT. Sinotruk shares last traded at 7.51 Hong Kong dollars on June 26.
(Reporting by Michael Shields)
