Faurecia signs strategic buyout by offering Japanese Clarion

For months, the Japanese market has been rumored to be rumors that the Japanese conglomerate Hitachi was seeking to sell Clarion, one of Japan's top four leaders in the car navigation system market. This Friday, the French group Faurecia has confirmed wanting to buy back the 63% held by Hitachi in Clarion, "with a view to a public offer to acquire 100% of the shares".

Already well established in Japan, the automotive supplier will spend 141 billion yen (1.1 billion euros) to take control of the company that tries to reinvent itself in the technologies of driving in autonomy.

While the growth of automotive equipment manufacturers is slowing down, this news has not delighted the markets. The title Faurecia drops this more than more than 8%, this Friday at the Paris Stock Exchange. At the opening, the action lost up to 9.3%.

Mixed performance for Clarion

Clarion, which first developed into the car stereo and in-car stereo market before focusing on navigation systems, is facing, as its Japanese competitors – Pioneer, Alpine Electronics and JVC Kenwood – on the rise in force of smartphones in the cabin. Drivers who are used to using their phones to track their progress on a map and listen to music or whatever. A move that forced Clarion to invest heavily in new technologies to maintain its revenue.

In the fiscal year completed last March, Clarion had seen its sales decline slightly year on year to 183 billion yen (1.4 billion euros). And his net profit had drastically gone down to just 2 billion yen. Worried about these performances, investors had made the group's title suffer in recent months in the Tokyo market, before the rumors of buyback do not make it quickly rebound from September.

By taking control of Clarion, which is already working with Japanese manufacturers Nissan, Mazda or Mitsubishi Motors, Faurecia could increase its footprint in the market for autonomous vehicle solutions and take advantage of systems already developed by the Japanese company. Based on its visualization systems, Clarion has, with Hitachi, launched a parking badistance system where the car "remembers" the space in which it has already been parked and thus easily merges into its usual place. , at home or at work.

Yann Rousseau

Corresponding to Tokyo