Teijin Acquires Continental Structural Plastics for $825 Million

Teijin Limited has agreed to acquire Continental Structural Plastics Holdings Corporation (CSP), based in Auburn Hills, Mich., for $825 million. Under the terms of the agreement, CSP will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Teijin. The company said that it made the acquisition with the hope of establishing a foundation for an automotive composite products business in North America. “Through this transaction, Teijin aims to become an automotive solution provider by expanding its offerings beyond carbon fiber and glass fiber materials, in collaboration with other materials manufacturers,” the company said in a September 13 press release. “Teijin intends to expand its product portfolio from materials to component design, implement a global supply chain and help achieve vehicle weight reductions in order to comply with tighter environmental regulations being introduced after 2020.” CSP is widely considered a leading manufacturer of thermoset composites in the automotive industry. It is the world’s largest sheet molding compound (SMC) manufacturer for automakers. The company holds more than 50 patents covering materials development and manufacturing processes in composite materials formulation and design. CSP has won a number of awards over the past few years for its TCA Ultra Lite advanced composite material, which is currently in production for 2016 Chevrolet C7 Corvette. “Teijin will benefit from CSP’s established sales channels in the North American automotive market, which will enable the combined business to provide a broader range of solutions that meet automakers’ demands for weight reduction and durability, utilizing the company’s thermoplastic composite technologies,” Teijin said. “The integration of CSP’s technical expertise in thermoset composites and Teijin’s leadership in complementary thermoplastics creates significant synergies for comprehensive multi-material applications to meet diversified demands from the automotive industry.” Teijin says the combination of CSP’s thermoset GFRP capabilities and Teijin’s high-performance composites, such as carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP), will help reduce weight and component count in finished products. The company believes that will offer automakers solutions that meet their requirements for more environmentally friendly components at lower cost. Teijin says it will also utilize CSP’s European Center for Advanced Technology in France and Teijin’s own composite production facilities to enhance its global development capabilities, allowing the combined business to better address the requirements of European, Japanese and Asian automakers. “We are confident that the platform for automotive composite products business we will gain through the acquisition of CSP’s complementary technical expertise in thermoset composites and GFRP know-how will trigger further development of our integrated high-performance materials business, one of our key strategic fields,” said Jun Suzuki, President and CEO of Teijin Limited.