TRELLEBORG, Sweden—Trelleborg A.B. is progressing plans for an initial public offering of Trelleborg Vibracoustic, its 50-50 joint venture with Freudenberg for automotive anti-vibration parts.
In June, Peter Nilsson, chief executive officer of Trelleborg, said that the company was planning for a potential IPO of Trelleborg Vibracoustic GmbH in Germany.
A company spokesman said recently that all the “internal and legal matters associated with the IPO are begin done. So it would be a matter of pressing a button if we were to go with that option.”
Whether or not that will happen, the official said, “Trelleborg will eventually, most likely, step down as owner of TrelleborgVibracoustic, but we have not communicated when this will happen and how it will be done.”
A spokesman from TrelleborgVibracoustic confirmed the pre-IPO activities were being completed both at Trelleborg and Freudenberg.
“Three options were mentioned in the initial JV agreement. One was an IPO, another one was for it to remain as a JV, and the third one was for one side to sell its shares to the other side,” he said. No timetable has been given for the final decision.
Meanwhile, Trelleborg said that the TrelleborgVibracoustic joint venture outperformed the underlying market, the Swedish company said in its financials for second quarter of 2015
Sales increased for all business areas, said Trelleborg, adding that Trelleborg Vibracoustic joint venture was impacted mainly by positive currency effects and acquisitions made.
The JV's operating profit in the quarter, excluding items affecting comparability, increased 20 percent to $52.5 million.
Trelleborg also posted its highest quarterly sales rate in the second quarter, with a 14 percent increase compared to the same period in 2014.
Net sales figures rose to $769 million. Operating profit, excluding the participation in TrelleborgVibracoustic and items affecting comparability, rose 10 percent to $103.6 million from $94.1 million the previous year, marking the group's highest operating profit to date for a single quarter.