Continental Gets Approval For Siemens Purchase

Continental AG has received the EU Commission’s approval for the acquisition of Siemens VDO Automotive AG without conditions.
Antitrust authority approval had already been issued by the national offices responsible.
This enables Continental to close the transaction in the beginning of December and transfer the purchase amount, EUR11.4 billion including tax benefits of around EUR1 billion, to Siemens AG.
The integration of Siemens VDO into the Continental Corporation will begin immediately after closing.
“We are delighted that, having received the approval of the EU Commission, we can now shortly conclude the purchase of Siemens VDO and, in so doing, take the most momentous step in Continental’s corporate history,” said Continental executive board chairman Manfred Wennemer.
Upon conclusion of the transaction, Continental will rank globally among the top five in the automotive supplier industry, with sales of more than EUR25 billion and approximately 140,000 employees.
The Continental Corporation is an automotive supplier of brake systems, chassis components, vehicle electronics, tires and technical elastomers.
In 2006 the corporation realized sales of EUR14.9 billion.
At present it has a worldwide workforce of around 89,000.