Vossloh will receive €72.5m in cash for Vossloh Kiepe, which includes €25m for future adjustment if the sale does not develop according to Vossloh’s expectations. The buyer has also committed to replace any guarantees and sureties that Vossloh had assumed for the division.

The economic transfer to Knorr-Bremse Rail Vehicle Systems will take place retroactively on July 1 2016, and Vossloh expects a net cash flow “in the middle double-digit range” when the transaction is completed in the first quarter of 2017. Vossloh’s supervisory board has approved the transaction. However, the sale is still subject to merger control clearances.

Vossloh Kiepe, based in Düsseldorf, generated sales of €249.5m in 2015, and is the second of three business units in the Transportation division which the company is offloading following Vossloh Rail Vehicles, which was sold to Stadler in 2015, and Vossloh Locomotives, based in Kiel, which remains up for sale, and the company says it expects to progress in early 2017.

“Following intensive and long negotiations with various interested parties, in Knorr-Bremse we have found a strategically ideal and financially strong partner for Kiepe,” says Mr Hans Martin Schabert, chairman of Vossloh’s Executive Board. “Under the management of its future owner, Kiepe will have great opportunities and new prospects for a sustainably successful development.”

“With the acquisition of Vossloh Kiepe, which has amassed more than a century of experience in electrical systems for rail vehicles, we are taking the logical next step in the successful development of our business,” says Mr Klaus Deller, chairman of the Executive Board at Knorr-Bremse. “For our customers, the main focus is on the technological benefits generated by greater sub-system connectivity. Along with our rail vehicle systems portfolio, our commercial vehicle systems offering will also be expanded as a result of the acquisition.”