French automotive supplier Novares (Paris; www.novaresteam.com) has announced a divestment of activities for instrument clusters and control panels for air conditioning and infotainment with the sale of two Portuguese production sites in Leiria and Vendas Novas to local firm Grupo Manuel Champalimaud (Lisbon; www.manuelchampalimaud.pt).

Deal approval from Portuguese competition authorities is still required. Novares said it will retain its local plant in Arouca, which was expanded in 2019.

The divested injection moulding plants, with a combined workforce of 600 and a turnover of EUR 50 mn at last count, are likely to be part of Champalimaud’s domestic plastics business GLN (Leiria; www.gln.pt), which is responsible for injection moulding and mould making in Portugal and Mexico. GLN produces injection moulded parts for cars, E&E, and packaging.

The family-run Champalimaud group is also active in forestry, energy distribution, agricultural logistics, leisure parks, and real estate, and it owns a significant stake in Portuguese postal and parcel service CTT.