DGAP-News

HELLA GmbH & Co. KGaA: HELLA sells front camera software business

DGAP-News: HELLA GmbH & Co. KGaA / Key word(s): Disposal/Agreement HELLA GmbH & Co. KGaA: HELLA sells front camera software business 29.09.2020 / 07:00 The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. HELLA sells front camera software business to Volkswagen's Car.Software Org

- Transaction expected to lead to extraordinary income in the range of approximately € 100 million

- About half of HELLA Aglaia's employees will transfer to the Car.Software Org of Volkswagen

- Other business activities of HELLA Aglaia not affected by transaction; role as competence centre for software further strengthened

- Strict portfolio management continues with sale; HELLA continues to invest in technologies for automated driving

Lippstadt/Berlin, 29 September 2020. The internationally positioned automotive supplier HELLA is selling its business with front camera software and the related activities in the area of testing and validation to the Car.Software Org, a wholly owned subsidiary of Volkswagen AG. Both companies have now signed a corresponding agreement. The transaction is expected to result in extraordinary income in the range of approximately € 100 million in the event of a successful closing. The business activities to be sold are located at the Berlin-based subsidiary HELLA Aglaia. In the course of the sale, about half of HELLA Aglaia's employees are to be transferred to the Car.Software Org, which Volkswagen founded at the beginning of the year as a cross-brand unit for software development. The transaction is still subject to approval by the relevant antitrust authorities and is expected to close in the first quarter of calendar year 2021.

"The exit from the front camera software business is based on stringent portfolio management. This is based on our strategic cornerstones of technology leadership, market leadership and the fulfilment of certain financial key figures", says HELLA CEO Dr. Rolf Breidenbach. "If we cannot sustainably achieve one of these three criteria with a product, we will not pursue the corresponding business activities any further. In order to achieve our goals in the long term, we would have had to make extraordinarily high investments in the field of front camera software combined with a high level of entrepreneurial risk. We are therefore pleased to have found a strong partner in Volkswagen who will continue to develop these activities strategically."