ZHUZHOU, China—China's state-owned Zhuzhou Times New Materials Technology Co. plans to acquire the automotive rubber and plastics business of Germany's ZF Friedrichshafen A.G.
Zhuzhou Times has proposed to make the acquisition with cash but it has yet to sign definitive documents with ZF on the deal, said Zhuzhou Times' parent, Shanghai-listed CSR Corp. Additional information about the sale isn't available.
ZF's rubber and plastics unit has about 3,400 employees worldwide and generated sales last year of $1.06 billion, up 6 percent from 2011. It has operations in Hebron, Ky.; Sorocaba, Brazil; Shanghai; Trnava, Slovakia; and Melbourne, Australia, as well as three plants and a research and development facility in Germany.
Zhuzhou Times is based in the central China city of Zhuzhou and makes elastomeric NVH components, polymer composite materials, insulation materials and special coatings. It is majority-owned by CSR, a major state-owned company that makes railway locomotives, passenger trains, freight wagons and subway vehicles.
ZF has more than 5,000 employees in China, which now accounts for 12 percent of ZF's global sales.