Mannesmann´s new owner, Vodafone Airtouch, has agreed to sell the group´s Atecs Mannesmann engineering and automotive businesses, including plastics machinery holding Mannesmann Demag Krauss-Maffei, in two stages to a German consortium of Siemens and Bosch for EUR 9.6bn. The companies outbid ThyssenKrupp, which had offered EUR 8.75bn. The two-phase sale, calling for Siemens/Bosch to acquire 50% plus two shares now and the remainder by 2003, takes account of planned changes in German tax laws. A stock market launch scheduled for June (see Plasteurope.com 05, 2000) has been cancelled.

It is not yet clear how the change of ownership will affect the plastics machinery holding, which takes in Krauss-Maffei Kunststofftechnik, Demag Ergotech, Berstorff, Billion, Netstal and Van Dorn Demag. Siemens and Mannesmann had previously agreed a 50:50 jv between automotive components manufacturer unit VDO and Siemens Automobiltechnik (AT). The new owners said the leading market positions of the other former Mannesmann divisions would be “further increased and strengthened through cooperation with their counterparts at Bosch and Siemens.” They have also guaranteed the survival of the businesses for three years.