Joint Venture between FRIWO AG and UNO MINDA Group opens new e-mobility perspectives for both companies

• Creating a technology and market leader in the two and three wheeler e-vehicle market
• India offers huge growth potential due to its government’s mission plan to push for e-mobility
• Sound financial basis will be established due to capital measures by UNO MINDA and VTC

Ostbevern, 10th December 2021: FRIWO AG – a leading international manufacturer of innovative power supply units and e-drive solutions – entered a Joint Venture with UNO MINDA Group – a leading global supplier of proprietary automotive solutions to OEMs – enabling both companies to benefit from and even accelerate the electric vehicle revolution on the Indian subcontinent. FRIWO will hold a minority stake of 49.9 percent and will consolidate the income from the Joint Venture through the company’s financial result. UNO MINDA plans a 15 million euro investment in FRIWO AG via a capital increase in order to strengthen the industrial partnership between the two groups. The planned transaction and the capital measure are subject to regulatory approval, including of the Reserve Bank of India.

Unique position in the dynamically growing Indian e-mobility market

The Joint Venture will perfectly combine FRIWO’s long-term experience in providing sophisticated e-mobility solutions with the unmatched manufacturing track record of UNO MINDA in the Indian automotive industry to market e-drive solutions for electrical two-and three wheelers in India. The respective markets promise high growth rates facilitated by governmental initiatives such as the FAME II (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India) Scheme and PLI that offers incentives to customers, OEMs and auto component manufacturers of electric two- or three-wheeler products.

In the framework of the Joint Venture, FRIWO and UNO MINDA will combine their technologies and production capabilities. As a result, the combined entity will be able to offer full-line e-drive solutions for the Indian market, combining extremely robust hardware and an outstanding software architecture. The Joint Venture will be supported by UNO MINDA’s well-established and successful marketing, sales and support functions based in India. The newly formed Joint Venture will also utilize the state-of-the-art production facilities in India from UNO MINDA to fulfil increasing client requirements and to offer high-quality customized e-solutions in record speed.

Rolf Schwirz, CEO of FRIWO, comments, “This Joint Venture is a great opportunity for FRIWO to facilitate its expertise and innovation driven e-mobility business. The Joint Venture will have a distinct product portfolio with shared facilities, sophisticated, but also market-proven technology, high quality and engineering standards from both FRIWO and UNO MINDA, at optimized costs to the customers’ benefit. This winning combination will enable the Joint Venture to successfully establish a leading position in the two- and three-wheeler electric vehicles markets in India, as well as unlock the potential of other markets”.

Mr. Nirmal K. Minda, Chairman and Managing Director of UNO MINDA, adds: “Electrification will play an important role in the transformation of the mobility industry and presents major opportunities to the entire mobility ecosystem. We are delighted to partner with FRIWO to expand our product capabilities to serve such rising EV opportunities. By combining UNO MINDA’s production skills and leading position on the Indian subcontinent with FRIWO’s technological knowledge, we can create a true leader in the rapidly growing e-vehicles market. The partnership has been forged at an opportune time where the EV industry is on the cusp of a growth trajectory facilitated by a favorable government policy and incentives. We are confident to play a key catalyst role in the electric vehicle revolution and sustainability mobility in India.”

Substantial improvement of balance sheet quality

In parallel to the investment of UNO MINDA, FRIWO’s main shareholder VTC GmbH & Co. KG through its subsidiary CARDEA will also enhance the financial soundness and balance sheet quality of the company via a debt-equity swap in the amount of 13.6 million euros. In that context, the Management Board, with the approval of the Supervisory Board, has passed a resolution to increase the share capital of FRIWO AG by issuing 406,334 new ordinary shares utilizing the Authorized Capital, excluding pre-emptive rights of existing shareholders. The new shares will be issued at a price of 33.47 euros per share. With the transaction, VTC converts existing loans from VTC into equity, which will significantly strengthen the balance sheet of FRIWO AG, thereby showing its commitment and confidence regarding FRIWO’s growth prospects.

Furthermore, the Management Board and the Supervisory Board have passed the necessary resolutions to offer UNO MINDA 448,162 new shares at the same price as stated above. FRIWO is utilizing another portion of the Authorized Capital to offer 448,162 new ordinary shares exclusively to UNO MINDA and is thus excluding pre-emptive rights of the existing shareholders. This capital increase for cash of 15 million euros is subject to regulatory approval, including of the Reserve Bank of India.

The new ordinary shares of both transactions represent 9.99 percent of the future registered share capital of FRIWO. After the completion of both transactions, VTC will hold 81.59 percent and UNO MINDA 5.24 percent of the then existing total share capital in FRIWO AG.

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Further Information:
Investor Relations
FRIWO AG
Ina Klassen
ir@friwo.com

About FRIWO: The listed FRIWO AG (General Standard, Frankfurt) with its headquarters in Ostbevern/Northrhine Westphalia is an international manufacturer of technically leading power-supply devices and e-drive solutions. FRIWO provides a whole host of applications with tailored systems from a single source. FRIWO, founded in 1971, has transformed itself from a provider of power-supply products to a full line supplier of sophisticated and tailorized e-mobility solutions. Today, the product portfolio does not only include premium power supply solutions, but also battery charging solutions for a wide range of applications. Furthermore, all components of a modern electric drive solution are also available: from the display, motor control unit and drive unit to the control software. With modern development centers, manufacturing facilities and sales locations in Europe, Asia and the US, FRIWO is present in all of the world’s key markets. FRIWO’s key customers are leading brands in their respective markets and have embedded FRIWO products in order to provide superior quality to their customers. Main shareholder of FRIWO AG is a subsidiary of VTC GmbH & Co. KG, Munich. For further information, please visit our website at https://www.friwo.com/en/

About UNO MINDA Group: UNO MINDA, a technology leader in Auto Components Industry, is a leading global supplier of proprietary automotive solutions to OEMs as Tier-1. Minda Industries Limited (MIL) is a flagship Company of UNO MINDA Group. It manufactures automobile components for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and is rapidly expanding with growing market shares across all its product lines. It endeavors to deliver high technology and high quality products to its customers globally. The Group is a global player in the automotive sector with overseas manufacturing facilities in Indonesia, Vietnam, Spain, Mexico, as well as Design Offices in Taiwan, Japan and Spain. It has over 71 manufacturing plants globally and has JVs/Technical Agreements with world-renowned manufactures from Japan, Italy and Taiwan.