Leoni reports that the company has concluded the sale of one of its business groups to Deutsche Invest Mittelstand (DI Mittelstand)

A press release said that on Dec. 13, 2023, the sale of the Leoni Business Group Wire Products & Solutions (BG PS) was completed. The deal included Leoni Draht GmbH, Haarländer GmbH, Leoni Temco, Ltd. and Leoni Wire (Changzhou) Co., Ltd. The company group now owned by DI Mittelstand is operating under a new name: Aerumtec - Copper Products and Solutions. Leoni Draht GmbH with its plants in Weissenburg and Bad Kötzting thus becomes Aerumtec GmbH. The plants manufacture wire, strand and rope made from copper and Leoni Histral® alloys bare and plated, as well as composite materials.

DI Mittelstand, a private investment firm that was founded in 2007, is based in Hamburg, Germany. 

Leoni, a global provider of energy and data management solutions in the automotive sector, plans to extend its production capacities in Morocco.

A press release said that the German company will build an additional plant for wiring systems, in Agadir, that will focus on the commercial vehicles segment. The plant should provide 3,000 new jobs. The company recently signed agreements for several investment projects with Moroccan representatives.

In Agadir, Head of Government Aziz Akhannouch presided over the signing ceremony of two memoranda of understanding and a framework agreement for the implementation of six investment projects. Leoni will enlarge its existing nine plants in the Casablanca-Settat region as well as establish a new facility in Agadir, thus creating more than 7,000 new jobs by 2027. The additional wiring systems plant in the Agadir industrial acceleration zone will provide 3,000 jobs in administration, engineering and production.

“I am very pleased about the agreement between our company and the Moroccan government,” said Ingo Spengler, Leoni’s COO and a member of the Executive Board. “Leoni will seize the opportunity to expand its footprint in the county, which provides favorable conditions in terms of availability of skilled workers, competitiveness and logistics. The state of Morocco, in return, is developing the industrial sector being the main pillar of the national economy.”

The new plant will specialize in producing wiring systems for the Commercial Vehicles segment, one of the growth fields of the company’s Wiring Systems Division. Leoni is supplying a growing number of truck and engine manufacturers with harnesses and associated components as well as off-road sector including agricultural, construction and industrial vehicles.

Nuremberg – The restructuring plan of Leoni AG received the approval of the required majorities at a court meeting convened for this purpose. This sets the path for the restructuring plan to become legally binding.

The Nuremberg Restructuring Court has announced that the still required ruling will be issued on 21 June 2023. Leoni can then proceed with the implementation of the financial restructuring as planned. It provides for a strong strategic owner for the company, an investment company held by Stefan Pierer. Leoni will be substantially deleveraged and provided with fresh liquidity, financing is secured until end of 2026.

“With the restructuring plan, Leoni will sustainably return to financial stability and can continue its operational recovery in the coming years“, said Hans-Joachim Ziems, Speaker of the Executive Board and Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO).

The restructuring plan provides for substantial contributions from debt and equity holders. The financial restructuring only affects Leoni AG, and not its subsidiaries, their suppliers, customers and employees. The financial restructuring is implemented under the German Corporate Stabilization and Restructuring Act

11/3/21 – Leoni AG has officially opened its fourth automotive wiring plant in Serbia, where the German company is the largest private industrial employer.

A press release said that opening of the plant in Kraljevo, further bolsters Leoni’s position as a high-performance supplier to the international automotive industry. The company to date has invested more than 50 million euros in the plant. The site is not only the biggest Leoni plant in Serbia, it also employs the largest number of people at full capacity (up to 5,000 by the end of 2023). The building covers more than 60,000 sqm, of which 45,000 sqm is the production area, which is now completed. The site is the first new plant built in almost 30 years in the region of Kraljevo and is expected to significantly contribute to the decrease of the unemployment rate, raise the living standard in the area, and accelerate its development pace.

Among those at the official opening were Aleksandar Vučić, the president of the Republic of Serbia, and Predrag Terzić, the mayor of the city of Kraljevo.
During the proceedings, Leoni CEO Aldo Kamoer declared the initiative a success and praised Serbian leaders for making the process a smooth one. “We are grateful for the unbureaucratic and very professional support of the authorities over all these years. We are happy to be able to tap into a large pool of dedicated and motivated employees here. And we are glad that we are contributing to raising the general standard of living in the region with our commitment in recent years. I think that’s what you call a win-win situation.”

Pierluigi Ghione, managing director of Leoni Wiring Systems Southeast d.o.o., said that the investment reflects the company’s commitment to Serbia. “Leoni is clearly focused on growth in this region – offering more job opportunities, expanding its business, becoming the biggest industrial employer in Serbia. What is more important than being the biggest employer is being the best employer. This is not an easy task, but we as one Leoni Serbia Team, together with central and local authorities, are working very hard to achieve this goal.”

11/1/21 – Following a strategic plan to focus on its Wiring Systems Group, Leoni AG has sold the majority of its industrial business to strategic investor BizLink Holding Inc.

A press release said that the company has sold its Business Group Industrial Solutions, which belongs to the WCS division (Wire & Cable Solutions) and represents significant parts of its industrial business. The sale marks another important milestone on Leoni’s path towards the long-term stabilization of the company via its VALUE 21 performance and strategy program.

“With this step, we are once again proving that we are consistently continuing to implement our announced and already advanced focus on the Wiring System Division,” said Leoni AG CEO Aldo Kamper. The company has previously stated its plans to strategically focus on consolidating its leading position as a supplier of wiring systems for the automotive industry. Against this backdrop, Leoni has already sold two units of the WCS division (Leoni Schweiz AG and the data communication and compound divisions of Leoni Kerpen GmbH) in recent months.

BizLink is an international provider of high-quality solutions for cable connections and connectivity services. BizLink’s acquisition of Leoni’s Industrial Solutions will expand its market presence, especially in Europe, and there is a clear perspective for future development and growth. The sale includes around 20 international locations of the Leoni Industrial Solutions business in 10 countries with around 3,000 employees. The activities of these locations, among others, include the areas of healthcare, robotics and automation.

“The Industrial Solutions business today operates globally successfully in the market, and I am convinced that it continues to have a very promising future,” Kamper said. “For the WCS units put up for sale due to our strategic focus on the automotive industry, it has always been our goal to find investors who want to strategically develop the products and services. I am confident that we have succeeded in doing so with BizLink.”

BizLink Chairman Roger Liang said the acquisition is a very good fit. “(It) will boost our technical and service capabilities, solidify our global scale, bring us closer to customers, and gain access to new industrial customers. The acquisition brings forward our long-term diversification plans, and will provide BizLink with immediate gains within multiple secular growth industries.”

The sold activities generated sales of approximately €430 million in fiscal year 2020 and are valued with an enterprise value of around €450 million. Upon completion of the sale, a profit of around €200 million is expected to be accounted for in the Group’s reported EBIT.

8/9/21 LEONI, global solution provider for energy and data management in automotive and other industries, has been named top performing supplier in North America by U.S. truck manufacturer PACCAR Inc.

LEONI Wiring Systems, Inc. was recognized within the Supplier Performance Management (SPM) program with the Leader Level Award. PACCAR is a leading global manufacturer of DAF, Kenworth and Peterbilt light, medium and heavy-duty commercial vehicles.

The award is of particular significance to LEONI in a year in which extraordinary challenges had to be overcome due to the global pandemic. It recognizes LEONI's outstanding customer focus to ensure product development, operations and aftermarket support, and alignment with PACCAR’s key business objectives. 
The award recognizes not only the close customer relationship between PACCAR and LEONI Wiring Systems, Inc., but also in particular LEONI's plants in Arad, Romania, and Durango and Hermosillo, Mexico. These plants contributed significantly to this award with their consistently high level of performance related to quality and delivery.

Ron Augustyn, PACCAR Vice President of Global Purchasing, recognized Leoni's achievements, saying, "PACCAR is pleased with the level of engagement from our suppliers in this very rigorous SPM program. Our suppliers create value for PACCAR, its customers and dealers, and their own companies under this program."
Jeremy Tibbett, SVP Account Management Trucks & Powertrain, received the award on behalf of LEONI: "We are very excited to receive the 2020 SPM Leader
award on behalf of the global LEONI team supporting PACCAR. It is a strong indication that our cross functional team has the proper focus, dedication, flexibility, and commitment to consistently perform on the highest levels to ensure customer satisfaction. And it further underlines the strategic working partnership and alignment between PACCAR and LEONI to ensure our mutual success."

 Leoni reports that it will join Relayr—an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) company that provides complete solutions for risk-free digital transformations—for joint development work on linking intelligent cable and automation systems with innovative IoT technologies.

A press release said that the initiative will be aimed at enabling carmakers and their suppliers to reduce unplanned downtime of robotic manufacturing lines and raising production efficiency thereby improving overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). “Leoni and relayr will be jointly developing and providing an intelligent solution for predictive maintenance and monitoring of robot lines in car manufacturing based on the LEONiQ technology and relayr’s IoT portfolio,” it said. The research will look provide plant operators “ongoing and deeper insight into the critical areas and components of the whole line.” Initial test installations will begin as early as this year.

Leoni will provide its intelligent, IoT-enabled energy and data management on robot lines, related data analysis skills, and automotive automation and processes knowledge while relayr will contribute its know-how in IoT technology, data analysis and process optimization in industrial production.