Robert Bosch GmbH announced that it had sold the remaining shares that the company owned in the Japanese company Denso. The approximately five percent that Robert Bosch Investment Nederland BV held on Denso were bought 50 years ago.
Bosch shares that the German multinational company owned since the mid-1950s were not a financial investment of strategic importance. Bosch has sold part of the initial investment in 2009. For approximately 46 million Denso shares, Bosch received about €1.1 billion. The money will be used to cover capital costs in strategic areas and to fund new acquisitions.
An alliance that has lasted for almost 60 years
The stock sale will not affect in any way the successful and long term relationship between the Bosch group and Denso company. “For nearly 60 years, the two companies have collaborated in automotive component industry. Foundations of this successful collaboration have always been mutual trust and a common desire to excellent technical solutions, “said Dr. Stefan Asenkerschbaumer, CFO of Robert Bosch GmbH. He added that they will remain pillars of the relationship between Bosch and Denso in the future. The two companies will continue to work within existing partnerships and alliances. In the future, Bosch and Denso will continue to examine opportunities for collaboration that will enable them to meet the demands of the international automobile industry.
A long and successful partnership
Bosch and the Japanese company have been partners for many years. As far back as 1953, the two companies (at that time Denso was called Nippodenso Ltd.) signed an agreement regarding auto electric equipment, such as generators and starters. In 1956, they extended the agreement to include the manufacture of spark plugs. Until recently, the agreements were extended and new ones were signed. Bosch and Denso are also shareholders in the joint ventures Associated Fuel Pump Systems Corporation (AFCO) and Advanced Driver Information Technology Corporation (ADIT). AFCO manufactures fuel pumps for cars in the U.S. city of Anderson, South Carolina, since 1989. ADIT, which was established in 2003, develops platforms for infotainment systems in Kariya, Japan and Hildesheim, Germany.
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