Ruia acquires two European firms

Pawan Ruia, owner of Dunlop India and Falcon Tyres, has acquired two European component companies, makers of automobile rubber sealing, in a follow-up to his strategy of picking up troubled assets in the continent hurt by the downswing in the auto industry since the beginning of the economic slowdown in 2008.

Ruia on Wednesday said he has acquired a Turkey-based company, Standard Profil, from a clutch of investors led by Bancroft Private Equity, and a German company, Meteor Gummiwerke.

The Turkey-based company, established in 1977, has operations also in Bulgaria, South Africa and China, and had notched up a sale of euro 180 million and operating profit of euro 38 million in 2010 supplying products including rubber seals such as door seals, trunk seals, engine cover seals and rear window gaskets to global automakers such as Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ford and Fiat. Bancroft Private Equity, Garanti Bank and International Finance Corporation acquired Standard Profil in September 2006.

The German company, having sales of euro 222 million and operating profit of euro 7 million in 2010, has three plants in Germany, two in Czech Republic and one in the US.

With this, the Kolkata-based Ruia has acquired six troubled European autocomponent makers since 2008, after German auto component makers Acument GmbH & Co, Gumasol Werke and Draftex Automotive, and UK-based Schlegel Automotive.

Like in case of other acquisitions, Ruia didn’t disclose the value at which the deals were struck due to apprehension that revelation might impact values of acquisitions that he might wrap up in future.