The illbruck group (D-51381 Leverkusen; www.illbruck.com) is selling its automotive division to Dutch investment company NIB Capital Private Equity NV (NL-1081KJ Amsterdam; www.nibcapital.com) and withdrawing from the supplier business altogether. The automotive division specialises primarily in system solutions for vehicle acoustics. The new owner is acquiring the company with its current management and is planning to expand its presence in the NAFTA region, while maintaining all existing locations. Illbruck has about 2,300 employees worldwide, with more than 450 located in Germany.

After withdrawing from the automotive supplier industry, the illbruck group will concentrate more on industrial services and construction systems. Activities in the construction sector are to be further expanded, with a bid made for a majority holding in Reinhold & Mahla AG (R&M, D-80992 Munich; www.rum.de), of which illbruck already has 49% of the shares. The company is currently considering grouping the R&M building construction activities (refurbishment, facade technology and cold store construction) with illbruck´s sealing systems, sanitary systems and room acoustics divisions in a new joint company. A merger would produce a company of considerable size, with 1,500 employees, 44 locations in 15 countries and sales of EUR 350m.

The headquarters of illbruck GmbH, the financial holding company, are being moved to Munich as part of the group´s restructuring.