Just about three years after the formation of Volkswagen Truck & Bus in may 2015, the Volkswagen Group has taken an important step to prepare the company for its capital market readiness.
Capital market readiness opens up, says the automotive company, a wide range of opportunities for the Group’s sustainable further development on its way to becoming a global champion.
To achieve capital market readiness, the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG has approved the change of the legal structure of Volkswagen Truck & Bus GmbH. As an initial step, the Group is to be converted into an Aktiengesellschaft (AG) and as a second step into a Societas Europaea (SE). However, the latter still requires further approval from the Supervisory Board. These steps are to be carried out as soon as possible.
In 2017, Volkswagen Truck & Bus sold 205,000 commercial vehicles, an increase of 11.6% over 2016 – revenues grew by 12.1% to €23.9 billion and operating profit before special items increased by 26.8% to €1.7Bn. Since 2015 MAN, Scania, Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus and RIO have grown together under a new umbrella.
Andreas Renschler, CEO of Volkswagen Truck & Bus GmbH: “Creating Volkswagen Truck & Bus in 2015 was exactly the right decision: today, our commercial vehicle brands are working more closely and successfully together than ever before. Paving the way for capital market readiness is the next logical step in the successful development of our company. We are now ready to gear up through the achievement of capital market readiness. Obviously, this is something that cannot be done overnight. We have therefore launched ‘Next Level’,a comprehensive project that has brought together nearly 200 employees who work for all of our brands and in all parts of the world. As a team, we will fulfill the requirements necessary to tap additional financing opportunities offered by the capital market. In doing so, we can flexibly accelerate the profitable growth of our commercial vehicles business. Our customers, employees and the entire Volkswagen Group will benefit equally from this step.”
“Since 2011, the employee representatives of Volkswagen, MAN and Scania have been supporting the strategy that our truck division requires global presence to maximize synergies,” said Bernd Osterloh, Chairman of the Volkswagen Group Works Council. “With capital market readiness we are paving the way to sustain growth – if necessary – financially and thus open up new perspectives for our strong brands MAN and Scania and secure jobs in the long term. It is a common understanding of Andreas Renschler and us that the Global Champion is playing in the premier league not only economically, but also with regards to the rights of the employees at Scania and MAN. This is going to be a win-win situation for both, the employees and the companies.” The Works Council intends to engage closely in the company’s further transformation from a GmbH into an AG. “What we see at the end of the process is a Societas Europaea (SE). We attach great importance to that, because we want strong co-determination for our colleagues at MAN and Scania. And the SE is the only way to ensure that this is the case,” Bernd Osterloh continues.
The Next Level plan
Volkswagen Truck & Bus will strictly move forward with the transformation process designed to turn it into a more mature company. The group already has 31 locations in 17 countries and 81,000 employees who produce trucks and busses. In its first financial years 2016 and 2017, the company spent €2.9Bn on Research & Development. Volkswagen Truck & Bus claims it has a leading market position in Europe and Brazil. In addition, it has forged strong partnerships in the growth markets North America and China. It also has signed alliances in Japan (Hino Motors) and a LoI with Russian Gaz Group.
With ‘Next Level’, Volkswagen Truck & Bus has launched a project that will further increase the company’s matureness, efficiency and innovativeness. The project is focusing on seven initiatives driving Volkswagen Truck & Bus faster on the journey to becoming Global Champion in the transportation business:
a) Brand performance: further enhancement of brands’ performance with individual identities, strengths and profiles
b) Global expansion: further global expansion to leverage scale and be ahead of competition
c) Future business models: develop solutions for future transportation (in such areas as autonomous driving and e-mobility). In fact, Volkswagen Truck & Bus launched in 2017 RIO, an open and cloud-based “operating system” for the entire transportation industry offering a basic pack of services free of charge, no matter the brand of the truck.
d) Cooperation & synergies: increase cooperation and leverage synergies between brands
e) Optimization of the organizational structure: reassessment of the organizational structure and further development of joint values
f) Communications: pursue an active and open communications approach
g) Achievement of capital market readiness: meet technical and structural requirements of the capital market
Image over the headline.- Andreas Renschler, CEO of Volkswagen Truck & Bus GmbH. © Volkswagen Truck & Bus.
