Squire Patton Boggs has advised Kongsberg Automotive (KA), a leading European automotive manufacturer, on the sale of its Interior Comfort Systems ("ICS") business unit to Lear Corporation ("Lear") following approval by the European Commission on February 25, 2022.The ICS business unit supplies seat climate and comfort systems to major car and seat manufacturers. Lear and KA entered into a master sale agreement on October 28, 2021, and the transaction closed on Feb 28, 2022 for an enterprise value of €175 million.
The Squire Patton Boggs team advising Kongsberg Automotive was led by Tony Reed, Paris-based partner and EMEA Chair of the firm's Global Corporate Practice, and associate Dan Hassett, and included 40 lawyers from across the firm’s international offices.
Kongsberg Automotive is an international supplier of automotive technology to the global vehicle industry. With approximately 11,000 employees in 19 countries, the company has more than 27 production facilities worldwide and a product portfolio that includes seat comfort systems, driver and motion control systems, fluid assemblies, and industrial driver interface products. The sale of the ICS business unit is part of Kongsberg Automotive's "Shift Gear" transformation program, aimed at fully directing their resources to the businesses in which they are market leaders. The sale, in addition to further strengthening the balance sheet, provides more flexibility and will foster profitable growth with a strong product focus and compelling innovations.
Lear, a respected leader in the automotive industry, has been a valued business partner of Kongsberg Automotive for many years. With this transaction, approximately 3,800 Kongsberg Automotive employees from Asia, Europe and North America will join the Lear Group. The manufacturing entities are located in Poland, China and Mexico and the sales, R&D and technical activities are located in the US, Sweden, France, UK, Germany, Hungary and India.