Following a second round of bidding, German plastics converter and automotive supplier Dynamit Nobel Kunststoff (DNK, Weissenburg; www.dn-plastics.com) is to be sold by its parent company, Gea Group (Bochum / Germany; www.geagroup.com), formerly MG Technologies, to Swedish automotive supplier Plastal (Kungälv; www.plastal.com). Gea said the deal values DNK, which has annual sales of EUR 915m and 5,000 employees, at EUR 350m, including pension obligations and debt.

Plans last year to sell DNK to US automotive supplier Flex-n-Gate (Urbana, Illnois; www.flexngate.com) collapsed, when the buyer failed to pay the agreed selling price of EUR 430m on time. Dynamit Nobel Kunststoff has 26 manufacturing plants in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the UK, Slovakia, Turkey and Argentina. Through subsidiary Menzolit-Fibron (Bretten / Germany; www.menzolit-fibron.de), it claims European market leader for sheet moulding compounds and long fibre reinforced thermoplastics. Separately, Plastal has agreed to acquire the 27% shareholding of Johnson Controls in Menzolit.

Owned by private equity group Nordic Capital (Stockholm / Sweden; www.nordiccapital.se), Plastal employs 2,400 people at 13 locations in seven European countries and had 2004 sales of about EUR 510m. The merged operation intends to be one of the largest European suppliers of injection moulded plastics exterior components to the automotive industry, with sales of around EUR 1.4 bn and connections to Volvo, Iveco, Saab, Fiat, BMW, VW and DaimlerChrysler, Ford, GM and MAN. No single OEM will represent more than 15% of the combined sales, Plastal said.