Knorr-Bremse Bid For Sheppard Finalised

Knorr-Bremse, a supplier of braking systems and other technologies for rail and commercial vehicles, today announced that the company has closed the $149.5 million acquisition of Pennsylvania -based R.H. Sheppard Co. Inc.

Sheppard manufactures steering systems for commercial vehicles in the North American market. The acquisition of Sheppard marks another important step in Knorr-Bremse’s strategic drive to become a leading global supplier of commercial vehicle, steering systems following its earlier acquisition of the Hitachi steering business in 2019, it said.

Munich, Germany headquartered Knorr-Bremse acquired Sheppard from WABCO Holdings Inc., which sold Sheppard in connection with the acquisition of WABCO by ZF Friedrichshafen AG. The acquisition of Sheppard was transacted by Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC, Elyria, Ohio, a North America-based subsidiary of Knorr-Bremse and part of the Commercial Vehicle Systems division.

“The acquisition of Sheppard is another important step for Knorr-Bremse in our strategic drive to become a leading global supplier of commercial vehicle steering systems. With Sheppard as a leading commercial vehicle steering supplier in the North American market now joining Knorr-Bremse, this opens further opportunities for us as a market leader in braking and driver assistance systems,” said Dr. Peter Laier, member of the executive board of Knorr-Bremse AG responsible for the Commercial Vehicle Systems division.

He added:“Our recent acquisitions in the commercial vehicle steering business, including Hitachi CVS Steering in Japan in 2019, the steering-related expansion of our joint venture with Dongfeng in China in 2020, and now the acquisition of Sheppard put us among the three leading companies in the global commercial vehicle steering market.”

The transaction involves the entire Sheppard business, including Sheppard’s branded products, manufacturing facilities, sales and service operations, and its interest in joint ventures related to supply and manufacturing. R.H. Sheppard Co., Inc. will now form an operating unit of Bendix and retain use of the Sheppard brand name. The operational integration is expected to take 18 to 24 months to complete.