April 3, 2019 Vol. 16 No. 7

Collaborations of several sorts were the main topic of my last newsletter and that trend is continuing. Two weeks ago I talked about the joint efforts of The Technology & Maintenance Council and the PIT Group, and Dana’s investment in Hyliion that will see the Michigan company as the electrification outfit’s source for traditional driveline components. Then there was Dana’s majority purchase of rising Quebec electric-motor maker TM4.

This time out we have a significant deal that sees ZF Friedrichshafen AG buying Wabco Holdings Inc. outright. At this point it’s called a “definitive agreement” to acquire the Switzerland-based company for a total equity value of approximately $7 billion. The deal should close next January, and it will create a powerhouse. The combined company will have sales of about US$45 billion.

“We believe that, together with Wabco, ZF can form the world’s leading integrated systems provider for commercial vehicle technology,” said Wolf-Henning Scheider, CEO of ZF, in a press release.

The acquisition is part of ZF’s ‘Next Generation Mobility’ strategy and will expand the company’s expertise to include commercial vehicle braking solutions for the first time. This plays a central role for the control of automated driving functions – including emergency braking manoeuvres of trucks and trailers. Following the acquisition, ZF will be able to offer customers a fully integrated system approach, new drive systems for E-Mobility and autonomous driving functions. ZF expects that automation will primarily be implemented for commercial vehicles and in areas with low complexity and easy traffic (e.g. factory sites, airports, agriculture).

The combination of both businesses is expected to further accelerate the development of new technologies to enable autonomous commercial vehicle functions, making ZF less dependent on the economic cycle of the passenger car industry.

While much smaller than ZF, Wabco’s 2018 sales were US$3.8 billion. It has 16,000 employees – including 2600 engineers – in 40 countries, plus 28 manufacturing locations on four continents. It’s a leading global supplier of braking control systems, among other products.