Automotive parts supplier MGI Coutier (Champfromier / France; www.akwel-automotive.com) has been operating under the name Akwel since 5 June 2018. The measure is to combine its extensive acquisitions of the last few years under a single brand. The 69.7% stake held by the Coutier family remains unchanged.

Akwel, which currently has nearly 11,000 employees at 42 plants around the world, has virtually doubled its sales since 2011 with acquisitions running into millions of euros. The company says it has changed from a parts supplier to a systems provider for customers such as PSA, Ford, Renault-Nissan, GM, JLR, FCA, Volvo, BMW, Daimler, Dongfeng and Changan.

The company has two main areas of expertise. Fluid management accounts for 86% of total sales and mechanisms accounts for 14%. It processes both steel and plastics, turning the latter for example into blow-moulded and injection-moulded containers for coolants, washer fluid systems and media lines. In 2017, the group's companies processed around 22,000 t of plastics on more than 350 injection moulding, extrusion and blow moulding machines, as well as 32,000 t of elastomers and 23,500 t of metals.

In order to strengthen its presence in Asia and eastern Europe, Akwel intends to start up a plant in Thailand before the end of this year, followed in 2020 by another in Vidin / Bulgaria. For that year, turnover is planned to reach EUR 1.2 bn. The group exceeded the EUR 1 bn mark in turnover in fiscal 2017, up 6.3% on the prior year.