Magna International has agreed to sell its interiors operations for about $525 million to Spanish auto parts manufacturer Grupo Antolin.
The transaction, which involves the division responsible for instrument panels, door panels, overhead systems and components, includes 36 manufacturing operations and approximately 12,000 employees located in Europe, North America and Asia.
That deal represents about a tenth of Magna's total global workforce and about US$2.4 billion in annual sales.
The acquisition will nearly double the Antolin workforce and revenue compared with last year, after the agreement gets the necessary approvals.
"We are very proud with this operation because we have found a very complementary business that fits perfectly well with ours," said Antolin executive chairman Ernesto Antolin.
In Canada, Antolin's website lists plants in Oshawa and Brampton, Ont., which are homes to assembly plants owned by General Motors and the parent of Chrysler.
Magna's Canadian plants aren't included in the deal.
"We have Seating facilities, but those are separate from Interiors and therefore not part of the interiors sales agreement announced today," Magna's Tracy Furest said in an email.
The deal is part of Magna's strategy to refine its product lineup to focus on key areas of automotive vehicles.
"We are confident that Grupo Antolin will continue to serve our interiors customers and provide to our interiors employees a solid foundation for the future," Magna chief executive Don Walker in a statement Thursday.
Magna, based in Aurora, Ont., is Canada's biggest auto parts company and one of the largest in the world.
It currently has 313 manufacturing operations and 84 product development, engineering and sales centres in 28 countries.
In total it employs 131,000 people and generated US$36.6 billion in sales last year.
Antolin has about 14,800 employees and a presence in 25 countries. It announced Thursday that 2014 annual revenue of 2.225 billion euros, or about US$2.38 billion.
