Volkswagen has agreed to sell its diesel engine unit Everllence to Bain Capital in a deal generating proceeds of about €7.4 billion ($8.4 billion), beating out other private equity firms including one that had joined forces with Volkswagen's top shareholders.
The leveraged buyout deal is expected to be one of European industry's biggest carve-outs this year. Volkswagen has been seeking to free up cash at a time of deep cuts across the group's automotive operations.
A leveraged buyout is a deal in which a company is acquired largely with borrowed money.
"Leaner structures and processes will give Everllence the opportunity to achieve further growth in attractive markets such as data centres, the energy sector and shipping. At the same time, it will allow us to focus even more strongly on our core business," said Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume.
Volkswagen has entered an exclusive arrangement with Bain to sell a 51 per cent stake in Everllence and will in the medium term remain a major shareholder with a 49 per cent stake, the German automaker said in a statement on Wednesday.
Bain was competing against CVC and EQT in the bidding race, the latter of which was part of a consortium with Porsche and Qatar.
Porsche holds 53.3 per cent of voting rights in Volkswagen, while Qatar holds 17 per cent via its sovereign wealth fund.
The business, formerly MAN Energy Solutions, makes diesel engines for the shipping industry but also sees growth potential in artificial intelligence through demand for generators to power data centres.
The transaction is subject to employee negotiations and regulatory hurdles, which Volkswagen aims to complete by the end of the year, the statement said.
As part of the deal, the company's sites in Augsburg, Oberhausen, Berlin, Hamburg and Ravensburg will be retained under the new ownership structure at least until the end of 2030.
As of May 31, the book value of Everllence on Volkswagen's balance sheet was about €3.4 billion.
(Reporting by Ananya Palyekar in Bengaluru, Chris Thomas and Mrinmay Dey in Mexico City; Editing by Sahal Muhammed, David Gregorio and Chris Reese)
