Altran acquires SWELL, a leading provider of engineering services for the automotive industry in Germany, Eastern & Northern Europe

• The acquisition of SWELL consolidates the rebuilding of capacity and capabilities as part of the German turnaround plan of the Group.

• SWELL strengthens further Altran’s presence with the main German automotive OEMS and offers potential to become a new nearshore center part of Altran’s Industrialized GlobalShore® network.

• The integrated engineering, development, testing and prototyping capabilities will enable the Group’s “Complete Vehicle” automotive positioning.

These core capabilities, which are complemented by extensive prototyping skills and CAE know-how, will become part of Altran’s Bodyin-White offer.

SWELL provides services to the European automotive industry with a portfolio of premium clients in Germany and with long lasting relations to key OEMs. Clients include Škoda Auto, Robert Bosch, Continental, Magna and Honeywell.

With its headquarters, engineering offices, prototyping workshops and testing facilities in the Czech Republic, SWELL has experienced a strong growth over the past years and its workforce is now composed of c.160 employees.

Commenting on the acquisition, Dominique Cerutti, Chairman & CEO of the Altran Group, stated: “We made Germany a priority market for Altran in our Altran 2020. Ignition strategic plan. With the acquisitions of SWELL and BENTELER Engineering, announced earlier this month, we have rebuilt our capacity and capabilities in the region. SWELL also offers potential to be integrated to our Industrialized GlobalShore® network as a nearshoring platform, which will be a differentiator in providing our automotive clients around the globe with an integrated offer addressing the complete vehicle.”

Founded in 1993, SWELL was owned by Genesis Private Equity Fund II. The acquisition is expected to be completed in 2016 and is subject to customary closing conditions.