Germany-based plastics machinery manufacturer KraussMaffei (KM, Munich; www.kraussmaffei.com), majority owned by China National Chemical (ChemChina, Beijing; www.chemchina.com.cn) since 2016, is now listed on the Shanghai stock exchange – see Plasteurope.com of 14.12.2017. The transaction concluded at the end of 2018 saw the Chinese parent company inject its shares in the German company into its majority owned, stock market-listed subsidiary Qingdao Tianhua Institute of Chemistry Engineering Co (THY, Qingdao, Shandong / China).

The new integrated business, set to trade as KraussMaffei, will continue to be managed from Munich by CEO Frank Stieler and CFO Harald Nippel. THY, including KraussMaffei, has now taken over operational control of ChemChina’s site at Sanming, Fujian / China, where it will in future produce newly developed injection moulding machinery for the Chinese market. The KraussMaffei product portfolio will generate around 80% of the listed entity’s EUR 1.5 bn annual sales.

Access to the Chinese capital market will “significantly” strengthen the German machinery group’s position in China and globally, said Stieler. The additional production site will allow KraussMaffei to expand its position in the People’s Republic, he added, while at the same time stressing that its international business will continue to be driven from Germany. Goals for China include extending the product range with new machinery series for volume markets and broadening the digital services business. On the back of rising demand, the German management forecasts annual sales growth of more than 20% going forward.

Touching on the ongoing international discussion on China’s recognition of intellectual property rights, KraussMaffei noted that the rights to the group’s technologies “remain bundled in Germany," while its legal status and German employee co-determination rights also remain unaffected by the Chinese listing.