Scania's Finnish distributor becomes a wholly-owned Scania subsidiary
Scania's Finnish distributor becomes a wholly-owned Scania subsidiary Scania has signed a preliminary agreement on acquisition of the remaining 50 percent share capital in Oy Scan-Auto Ab, which imports and markets Scania trucks and buses on the Finnish market. The vendor is the stock-exchange listed Metso Group Abp. The acquisition is part of Scania's strategy to rein- force and develop its European service and sales network. Scan-Auto operates seven regional Scania units and ten profit centres for the car-based retail trade, and employs a total of 760 people. The company had a turnover last year of 1.8 billion FIM (302.7 million Euros) and sold a total of 848 trucks, 85 buses and 4,308 cars. Scania is the second-largest brand on the Finnish market for heavy trucks and buses, with a market share of 31.9 and 34.1 percent respectively (August 1999). Over the past three years, Scan-Auto has invested 156 million FIM in the de- velopment of its sales and service networks. The company was founded in 1949 and is one of Scania's oldest-established importers. In 1969, Scania and Val- met Oyj became equal-share owners of the company. Valmet Oyj was merged in July 1999 with Rauma Oyj to form the Metso Group, which plans, develops and manufactures systems, automation packages and machines for the processing industry. The sale of Scan-Auto is part of the Metso Group strategy to concentrate on core business areas that support the processing industry. For further information, please contact press officer Ulf Söderström, tel. 08 - 553 810 44, mobile phone 070 - 680 95 95. Scania is one of the world's leading manufacturers of trucks and buses for heavy transport applications, and of industrial and marine engines. With 23,500 employees and production facilities in Europe and Latin America, Scania is one of the most profitable companies in its sector. In 1998, turnover to- talled SEK 45,300 million and income after financial items SEK 3,200 million. Scania products are marketed in about 100 countries worldwide and approxi- mately 96 percent of total production is sold outside Sweden. Scania press releases are available on the Internet, www.scania.com ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/10/05/19991005BIT00450/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/10/05/19991005BIT00450/bit0002.pdf