Instead of a takeover by the enfant terrible of automotive suppliers, the Bosnian family Hastor and their group Prevent, which deals with VW and Daimler, German centre consoles and utility vehicle seats manufacturer Grammer (Amberg; www.grammer.com) will now be in the hands of the Chinese family Wang.

With 25% of the shares, Ningbo Jifeng Auto Parts (Ningbo, Zhejiang / China; www.nb-jf.com) is currently the largest shareholder, and was brought in as the knight in shining armour against Hastor's takeover attempt (see Plasteurope.com of 21.07.2017). The Chinese company has announced a public takeover offer for all shares in Grammer. A comprehensive business combination agreement was concluded on 29 May 2018. Completion of the public takeover is subject to regulatory approvals and a minimum acceptance rate of 50% plus one share – including the current shareholding of approximately 25% held by a Ningbo Jifeng affiliate. What will happen to Hastor's 20% remains unclear.

Upon completion of the takeover, which the Grammer executive board "welcomes and supports" and is likely to be a mere formality, the agreement provides for the company's headquarters in Amberg and its national and international sites to be maintained. In addition, Jifeng is to make extensive commitments to all 13,000 employees of the Grammer group – with individual undertakings of the agreement having a term of up to 7.5 years and offering security for employees as well as customers and suppliers. The current management under CEO Hartmut Müller remains unchanged for the time being.

While Grammer would benefit from better access to the Chinese market, Jifeng wants to take advantage of the more extensive global footprint of the German company. What is notable, however, is the business combination agreement's clear exclusion of the "use of Grammer's technologies and know-how by the bidder to the detriment of Grammer."

That being said, the additional money from China will make concerted expansion possible. Grammer's recently announced acquisition of US competitor Toledo Molding & Die (TMD, Toledo, Ohio; www.tmdinc.com) is presumably a first sign of where this journey is headed towards.