Navistar International Corporation has announced that it has formed a wide-ranging strategic alliance with Volkswagen Truck & Bus, which includes an equity investment in Navistar by Volkswagen Truck & Bus and framework agreements for strategic technology and supply collaboration and a procurement joint venture.
The agreements expected to be entered into in connection with the alliance will enable Navistar to offer customers expanded access to leading-edge products and services through collaboration on technology and the licensing and supply of Volkswagen Truck & Bus’s products and components, while better optimizing its product development spend. The alliance will also strengthen Navistar’s liquidity position.
In addition, the procurement joint venture is expected to leverage the purchasing power of Volkswagen Truck & Bus’s three major truck brands, Scania, MAN and Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus, in addition to Navistar’s own International and IC Bus brands, providing Navistar with enhanced global scale.
Navistar expects significant synergies from both the strategic technology collaboration and the procurement joint venture. The company expects the alliance to be accretive beginning in the first year, and for cumulative synergies for Navistar to ramp up to at least $500 million over the first five years. By year five, it expects the alliance will generate annual synergies of at least $200 million for Navistar. This annual run rate is expected to grow materially thereafter as the companies continue to introduce technologies from the collaboration.
“We are very pleased to partner with a global leader who shares our view of the world, in an alliance that will deliver multiple benefits and is consistent with our open-integration strategy,” said Troy Clarke, President and CEO, Navistar. “Starting in the near term, this alliance will benefit our purchasing operations through global scope and scale. Over the longer term, it is intended to expand the technology options we are able to offer our customers by leveraging the best of both companies and enabling Navistar to deliver enhanced uptime. Volkswagen Truck & Bus’s equity investment will strengthen our liquidity position and expand our financial flexibility, while aligning us with a valuable strategic partner.”
“Closer collaboration among our existing brands was a top priority for our commercial vehicles business and we are well on track in this context,” said Andreas Renschler, CEO of Volkswagen Truck & Bus and member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG responsible for commercial vehicles. “We are now taking the next step on our way to becoming a Global Champion in the commercial vehicles industry. The strategic alliance with Navistar is an important milestone and will be very beneficial for both sides.”
Navistar will remain a leading, independent truck, bus and engine company, focused on providing best-in-class products and related services to its customers globally and delivering value for its shareholders.