Aebi Schmidt goes public via merger in the USA
Published: Monday, Dec 16th 2024, 15:50
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The Swiss vehicle manufacturer Aebi Schmidt is going public via a merger. Not in Switzerland, however, but in the USA. At the same time, the company rises to number two in the industry.
Aebi Schmidt intends to merge with the US specialty vehicle manufacturer The Shyft Group via a share swap, as both companies announced on Monday. Once the transaction has been completed, Aebi Schmidt shareholders will hold the majority (52%) of the combined company.
"We are doing it from a position of strength," said Aebi-Schmidt CEO Barend Fruithof in an interview with the news agency AWP. He added that there was no particular reason for the merger at this particular time. "We have taken advantage of an opportunity," he said. The market had been looked at closely and the current valuation of Shyft was a good fit for discussing a merger.
Stock exchange listing in the USA
The merger brings Aebi Schmidt to the US stock exchange Nasdaq. As Shyft's shares are already listed there, this was for "pragmatic reasons", said Fruithof. The merged company will generate around 70 percent of its turnover in the USA. Aebi Schmidt currently generates around half of its turnover in the USA.
Fruithof sees further growth opportunities in the US market, especially as Europe is currently somewhat weak. "We are strengthening our locations in Europe with this transaction because we are gaining additional points of sale for European products in the USA," he said. Job cuts in Europe and Switzerland are therefore not currently an issue.
Peter Spuhler will be the largest shareholder in the new group. He bought Aebi in 2006 and merged the company with the southern German company Schmidt in 2007. Spuhler currently holds around two thirds of the shares in Aebi Schmidt directly and via his PCS Holding. After the merger, his stake in the combined group will still be around 35 percent. However, Aebi Schmidt CEO Fruithof does not expect Spuhler to substantially reduce his stake.
Company headquarters remain in Switzerland
The merged company will remain headquartered in Frauenfeld and will be managed by Fruithof. The current Shyft CEO James Sharman will act as Chairman of the Board of Directors, while Fruithof will also become Vice CEO. Aebi Schmidt will provide a total of six of the eleven members of the Board of Directors, it is reported.
The merger will create one of the "leading specialty vehicle manufacturers worldwide". Only the REV Group is even bigger. Its turnover in 2023 amounted to around 2.6 billion US dollars. Aebi Schmidt and Shyft will have a combined turnover of around 2 billion dollars.
According to Fruithof, it is still unclear what the merged company will ultimately be called. Various options are still being examined. It is likely that the name Shyft will be included in some form. But abbreviations are also possible, the company boss continued.
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