Hastor sells Grammer stake to Nigbo Jifeng

Frankfurt, Germany — Bosnian investor Hastor has tendered its 19% stake in Grammer to Ningbo Jifeng.

This ends a two-year power struggle over the German automotive seating and interiors supplier.

The Wang family, which holds a majority stake in Chinese car parts maker Ningbo Jifeng, said last month that its revised takeover for Grammer had been successful with 37.7% of the shares tendered.

Hastor’s Cascade vehicle initially wanted to take over Grammer itself. It said in an August 2018 statement that the Chinese company’s stake made this impossible to achieve.

Hastor bought into Grammer in 2016. The German company’s  management, feared business would suffer if the Bosnians increased their influence. They welcomed Ningbo Jifeng as a white knight. Ningbo, local politicians and the Grammer board, halted Hastor’s advance at the firm’s AGM in May 2017

The seat maker’s management warned in May last year that the growing influence of Bosnia’s Hastor family had reduced orders from car makers.

The Hastor family also owns auto supplier Prevent, which got into a dispute with Volkswagen Group in 2016 resulting in stoppages at VW plants. The family had demanded seats on  Grammer’s supervisory board.

The Hastor family may not have taken the German company over; but the share prices has price roughly doubled since it bought the  stake.

Source: Reuters