Valeo acquires 80% stake in Chery lighting unit
French supplier Valeo SA says it has acquired an 80 percent stake in Chery Technology's Ruby light subsidiary.
Chery Technology will retain a 20 percent stake.
The joint venture, which will be renamed Wuhu Valeo Automotive Lighting Systems, will make and sell Valeo's lighting products for Chery Automobile Co. and other customers.
The partnership will be in the east China city of Wuhu in Anhui province, where Chery Automobile is headquartered.
According to Valeo CEO Jacques Aschenbroich, the Asian market generated 25 percent of Valeo's sales in the third quarter of 2011, and will top 30 percent by 2015.
Valeo, of Paris, ranks No. 21 on the Automotive News list of the top 100 global suppliers with worldwide parts sales to automakers of $8.0 billion (50.4 billion yuan) in 2010.
Chery is China's largest privately held domestic automaker, with production of 577,570 passenger vehicles in the first 11 months of 2011, according to LMC Automotive.
