Faurecia has signed a memorandum of understanding to sell its acoustics and soft trim division to Adler Pelzer Group, a specialist in automotive acoustics.
The division had sales of 385 million euros ($465 million) in 2019 and has about 1,800 employees in eight factories and one R&D center, all in Europe. Terms of the agreement were not announced, and a closing date was not given.
The two suppliers have started the process of obtaining clearance from competition authorities, Adler Pelzer said in a news release Thursday.
Adler Pelzer said the acquisition would give it more access to automakers in Faurecia's customer base, including the Renault-Nissan Alliance and Stellantis.
Faurecia is preparing for a future as a fully independent company following the merger between PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles that created Stellantis. It will release 2020 results on Monday.
PSA held a controlling stake in Faurecia until the latter part of 2020, when it sold down some of its holdings ahead of the Stellantis merger closing. As part of the terms of the merger with Fiat Chrysler, all of PSA's Faurecia shares will be distributed to Stellantis shareholders.
"We believe that the best future for our acoustics and soft trim division is within Adler Pelzer," Faurecia CEO Patrick Koller said in the release. "This is because of all identified complementarities and because of Adler Pelzer’s market positions."
The agreement includes an option for the two companies to collaborate on acoustics.
Adler Pelzer is based in Hagen, Germany. The company has 11,000 employees worldwide and had global sales of 1.4 billion euros in 2019. It makes carpets, door panels, headliners and engine acoustic and thermal insulation, among other products.
Faurecia ranks No. 8 on the Automotive News list of the top 100 global suppliers, with worldwide sales to automakers of $19.9 billion in 2019.