Overseas M&A
Mando announced on November 6 that it acquired DSP-Weuffen GmbH, a German auto parts company.
Earlier on October 15, the European branch of Mando signed a contract with the German company in Frankfurt to purchase 80% of its shares, which was attended by Vice President Frank Chung. On November 4 (local time), Mando wrapped up the M&A process by paying the full amount of money of approximately 3 million euros (US$4.0 million). The signing parties have not disclosed the specific amount, owing to a confidentiality clause.
Located in Lindau, DSP-Weuffen is a tech-oriented company in which over 90% of employees are engaged in R&D. It is in possession of Around View Monitoring (AVM) technology with which the entire surroundings of a vehicle can be watched on a screen. “We will be able to set the stage for the development of driver assistant systems thanks to the digital signal processing technology which will be acquired by the agreement,” Mando explained.
A driver assistant system assists in the maintenance of vehicle-to-vehicle distance, collision prevention, automatic parking, and the like by utilizing cameras and radar sensors. Many automakers are striving to realize autonomous driving by making use of such systems.
“We are planning to supply the AVM, the main product of DSP-Weuffen, to global carmakers first,” Mando added, continuing, “Also, we will capitalize on the agreement in order to speed up the development and manufacturing of DAS sensors.”