(Reuters) – Germany’s Continental has a goal of more than doubling sales at its rubber and plastics unit Contitech to over 11 billion euros ($15.1 billion) within the next decade, the Handelsblatt newspaper reported, citing the division’s chief.
“That is by no means utopian,” the newspaper quoted Contitech chief Heinz-Gerhard Wente as saying in an interview to be published on Tuesday. “We want to grow in qualitative and quantitative terms.”
The auto parts and tyre maker announced in February the purchase of U.S. private equity investor Carlyle Group’s Veyance Technologies, a maker of industrial hoses and belting, for 1.4 billion euros.
The deal, which may not close until late September, will increase Contitech’s sales to about 5.4 billion euros from 3.9 billion last year. Veyance generated more than half of its $2 billion 2013 sales in North America.
($1 = 0.7303 euros) (Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Mark Potter)
