Clearlake Capital Group has completed the acquisition of Futuris Automotive from Elders Limited.
The transaction was first announced on 31 July 2013. Clearlake operating advisor and automotive industry veteran Mervin Dunn has joined the Futuris board of directors as co-chairman.
Established in 1967, Futuris Automotive designs, engineers and manufactures seating and interior systems for leading global OEMs. Key automotive solutions include seating systems and hardware, interior products such as door trims, headliners, and floor carpets, and various aftermarket services. Futuris has design and engineering centres in Australia, China and the US and manufacturing facilities in Australia, China, Thailand and the US. Select global OEM customers include GM, Ford, Toyota, SAIC, Chery, JAC, Brilliance and Tesla.
Futuris will remain headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Mark De Wit will continue to lead Futuris as managing director.
Dunn says: "Futuris has world-class design and manufacturing capabilities and will greatly benefit from Clearlake’s sponsorship and the ability to seek new business opportunities in the global automotive and commercial vehicle market. We plan to focus on enhancing Futuris’ product portfolio and geographic expansion strategy to take advantage of favourable trends in the automotive market in Asia and other geographies."
Dunn, 59, most recently served as president and chief executive of Commercial Vehicle Group, and prior to that, president of Trim Systems. He has also held senior leadership positions at Bliss Technologies, Arvin Industries, and Johnson Controls Automotive Group. Dunn currently serves on the board of directors of Transdigm Group and HealthSpot, and previously served on the Commercial Vehicle Group board.
“This is an exciting time for Futuris,” says José E Feliciano, a founding partner at Clearlake and newly appointed co-chairman of the Futuris board of directors. “As an independent company with top tier customers, talented management and substantial financial backing, we believe Futuris is poised for strong growth – both organically and through selected acquisitions where we see a great fit for Futuris’ culture of excellence and innovation.”
“Futuris has worked hard to build its reputation for complete seating and interior solutions and outstanding automotive products,” says De Wit. “With Clearlake’s backing, and with the help of industry leaders like Merv, we are very excited to take our products and business to new markets, as we seek to provide the very best seating and interior systems and components to our global customers and ultimately to consumers.”
