GERMANY: Sanhua, the Chinese air conditioning and refrigeration component supplier has acquired the German home appliance component manufacturer AWECO Appliance Systems.
The move follows Sanhua's purchase of the German company's refrigeration component line last October and now gives the increasingly influential Chinese manufacturer the entire customer base of AWECO, its patents, trademarks, production know how as well as AWECOS's operations in Germany, Poland, Austria, Slovakia and China.

Sanhua says that AWECO will retain its operational independency within the Sanhua Group with its own management team but will be provided with new funds for research and development as well as its restructuring efforts. The transaction will also enable Sanhua to broaden its customer base outside China.

'With this acquisition we continue to move closer to our corporate mission in becoming a more diversified and global supplier to the home appliance industry,' said Gerhard Teschl, vice president of Zhejiang Sanhua Ltd. 'The customer is the big winner in all of this because the combination of our two organizations will continue to offer AWECO's excellent technology and quality supported by Sanhua's high productivity and financial strength. This is a unique value proposition to the market,' he added.


Zhejiang Sanhua Ltd is a member of the Sanhua Holding Group and employs around 7,000 people worldwide. Sanhua provides globally advanced Automatic Controls and heat exchanger solutions to oems and wholesalers and boasts a dominant market position in Asia.

The company is already a major supplier to many of the largest air conditioning and refrigeration manufacturers in the world including Panasonic, Daikin, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Hitachi, Fujitsu, LG, Samsung, Carrier, Trane, York, Gree and Midea. In 2007 it acquired the Ranco valve business from Invensys.

The AWECO deal is expected to be completed in January after merger control clearance in Poland and Turkey and Chinese SAFE as well as other customary closing conditions have been fulfilled.