Veyance air springs business to be sold to EnPro

Hanover, Germany - ContiTech is to sell the Veyance Technologies North American air springs business to Charlotte-based EnPro Industries Inc., the German company has announced.

“The air springs business will be managed as part of EnPro’s Stemco division,” according to a 3 June press release from ContiTech.

The transaction is expected to close in July, subject to regulatory approval. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The divestiture was to comply with the requirements of anti-trust authorities in the US, Mexico and Brazil as part of ContiTech’s €1.4-billion acquisition of Veyance in January 2015.

The transaction, said the release, includes around 500 employees in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and about 30 commercial and R&D employees in the US and Canada.

"With EnPro’s Stemco business we have found a good home for Veyance’s air springs team in North America,” said Hans-Jürgen Duensing, head of ContiTech.

The Veyance takeover was part of ContiTech’s strategy to strengthen its global industrial business and reduce exposure to automotive OE markets.

With the takeover of Veyance, the industrial business has grown to represent a 54-percent proportion of ContiTech’s overall business –  from 43 percent previously.