Toronto, Ontario — In this weekly Tuesday Ticker, AkzoNobel adds an acquisition to its wheelhouse and Stellantis talks more about its future funding at FCA Canada.
Wheelie great acquisitions
AkzoNobel has announced an agreement to acquire the wheel liquid coatings business of Lankwitzer Lackfabrik GmbH. The deal is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.
Lankwitzer’s Rims and Wheel business operates out of a manufacturing site in Leipzig, Germany. Its products are approved for use by car manufacturers such as Daimler, Audi, VW, Opel, Fiat and Renault.
“Acquiring this attractive business will complement our existing powder coatings portfolio and expand the range of innovative products we supply,” explains Michael Friede, AkzoNobel’s chief commercial officer for performance coatings.
The intended transaction follows a series of recent acquisitions by AkzoNobel over the last two years, including Grupo Orbis in Latin America, Titan Paints in Spain and Portugal, New Nautical Coatings in the US and, most recently, the intended acquisition of the African paints and coatings activities of Kansai Paint.
FCA Canada’s funds
Stellantis has committed to spending $8.6 billion in Canada’s emerging electric vehicle industry, with a goal of hiring 650 research engineers, according to David Buckingham, CEO of FCA Canada.
Buckingham delivered a keynote address during Automotive News Canada’s Congress last month, where he spoke more on the details of the automaker’s two-pronged investment.
A $3.6 billion investment was announced in May, which would see the Brampton and Windsor, Ont. plants devoted to electrified products and technology. A further 650 engineering jobs would be added to the FCA Automotive Research and Development Centre in Windsor, with a new 9,000 square-metre (100,000 sq. ft.) lab dedicated to EV and EV battery research installed by the end of 2023.
“It’s kind of two projects,” said Buckingham, adding that the facilities will be retooled and ready by 2024. “One is for product development and the transition to EVs, and the second is purely a battery lab.”
LG Energy Solutions and FCA Canada had announced a $5 billion investment just before unveiling the dual Windsor-Brampton investment, with the funds earmarked for battery plant operations in Windsor.
