Yunex offers intelligent road traffic control solutions.
(Photo: dpa)
Munich, Rome Siemens is selling its traffic technology subsidiary Yunex Traffic to the Italian infrastructure holding Atlantia for almost one billion euros. “We are continuously sharpening and optimizing our portfolio in order to further strengthen Siemens as a focused technology company,” said Siemens CEO Roland Busch on Monday in Munich.
A whole series of financial investors and strategists were interested in the spin-off from Siemens Mobility during the bidding process. The Handelsblatt had already reported on the approaching contract for Atlantia. The holding pays 950 million euros. The transaction is expected to close in September.
They have found the best owner for Yunex Traffic, said Busch: “Atlantia’s competence, long-term orientation and great commitment to growth and innovation are in the best interest of everyone involved.” Yunex offers solutions for intelligent road traffic control, from toll systems to traffic light controls. Siemens no longer counted the company among the core business of its railway technology division.
Yunex’s sales were recently more than 600 million euros, and incoming orders have grown by an average of eight percent in recent years. The company is now profitable.
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The buyer Atlantia is controlled by the entrepreneurial family Benetton. Holding boss Carlo Bertazzo called the takeover a “milestone in the expansion of our business”. One wants to use operating and growth synergies. The Italians are active in highway, airport and mobility service businesses, among others.
The company is bringing Atlantia to countries where it has not been active before. Nevertheless, Bertazzo also sees “great growth potential” for Yunex in Atlantia’s core markets of Italy, Spain and France. This is also reflected in the sales expectations: Within five years, it should exceed the one billion euro mark.
Siemens satisfied with the buyer
According to Handelsblatt information, the bidders had recently included Atlantia, the financial investors Bridgepoint and KKR, the Czech industrial holding PPF and the competitor Cubic from the investment companies Veritas Capital and Evergreen Coast Capital.
Siemens circles expressed satisfaction with both the price and the fact that a strategic buyer had been chosen. That is an important signal for the approximately 3,000 employees at Yunex.
Atlantia Holding made international headlines after a motorway bridge collapsed in Genoa. It belonged to the road network of the former Atlantia subsidiary Autostrade per l’Italia (ASPI). After years of conflict with the government, Atlantia sold the toll road operator to a consortium of investors in mid-2021 for a good nine billion euros.
The Italian traffic technology holding company has been awarded the contract for Yunex.
(Photo: Reuters)
Atlantia then declared that in the future it would no longer only participate in motorways, airports and toll systems, but also enter related business areas such as intelligent traffic solutions. Yunex is the largest investment in Germany to date. A good year ago, Atlantia announced its entry into the air taxi start-up Volocopter. But the Italians only hold a minority stake there – they got involved in the Series D round of financing, which brought a total of 200 million euros.
When asked about further planned investments, Bertazzo was reluctant on Monday evening. He does not want to announce anything that has not yet been decided. But: “There are opportunities in the pipeline that we are pursuing.”
The core business of Siemens Mobility, to which Yunex previously belonged, is the construction of trains and signaling technology. In the past 2020/21 financial year, Mobility increased sales by three percent to 9.2 billion euros. With an operating margin of 9.3 percent, Mobility has not yet met the new medium-term targets of 10 to 13 percent. However, the railway sector has meanwhile been more severely affected by the effects of the corona pandemic.
Demand is now increasing again. In the fourth quarter of the 2020/21 financial year, Mobility increased its order intake by a third to 2.8 billion euros.
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