K Finance served as advisor to Swiss listed Autoneum AG in the sale of its Italian subsidiary to Germany´s mutares AG. The sale of the Italian subsidiary is part of the medium-term strategy launched by the Autoneum group aimed at rationalizing its production capacity in Europe, partly as a result of the generalized decline in demand in the automotive sector. mutares aims to restructure and relaunch the Italian company, focusing on product, strong automotive customer relationships and distinctive technological know-how.

The Autoneum Group (www.autoneum.com), listed on the Swiss SIX [AUTN.SW], is a world leader in thermal and acoustic insulation for cars. The Swiss Group, headquartered in Winterthur and operating in 26 countries, had been spun off in 2011 from the Rieter Group, which is active in the production of textile machinery. It employs about 9,000 people worldwide, 6 percent of them in Switzerland. In 2012 it had sales of about 1.6 bn euros. Autoneum Italy S.p.A. is the Italian subsidiary of the Autoneum Group. The historical Italian core of Autoneum Italy SpA dates back to the 1930s. Today the company, headquartered in Turin, is the result of the 1996 acquisition of Fimit by the Autoneum Group, at that time called Rieter Automotive Systems. Autoneum Italy manufactures noise and thermal insulation components for light and heavy vehicles. Turnover in 2012 was approximately Euro 110 million and production is based in 4 plants, 3 of which are located in Northern Italy (Desio, Vicolungo and Santhià, in the Milan and Turin areas) and one in Pignataro in the province of Caserta. The company employs 750 people.

Mutares AG (www.mutares.de) is a Munich-based investment company listed on the Berlin Stock Exchange founded in 2008 focused on the acquisition of non-core assets of large multinational groups. Mutares´ current portfolio consists of 11 companies, three of which are active in the automotive sector (with a total turnover of approximately EUR 500 million).