PRESSING THE PEDAL
“Our strength has been setting aggressive targets where our people would actually have to move and work hard. There is a lot of pain in the system accumulated over the last few years and Covid has exacerbated that”
Vivek Chaand Sehgal, Chairman and Co-Founder, Motherson Sumi Systems
In the aftermath of the global financial crisis triggered by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the world’s largest rearview mirror maker, Visiocorp, found itself in dire straits in late 2008. It is then that nearly a dozen global automotive giants, including Daimler and Volkswagen, among others, chose to approach a hitherto unknown Indian parts maker, Motherson Sumi Systems, to bail the company out by acquiring it.
“The opportunity was brought to us by a customer, a German automaker,” says Andreas Heuser, Head of Regional Chairman’s Office, Europe, Motherson. “They were the first to come to us seeking a solution.”
“What we needed to move forward was to gain the confidence and commitment of our global customers,” says Barrie Painter, Executive Vice President, Global Sales, Marketing and Business Development, Samvardhana Motherson Automotive Systems Group BV (SMR BV) and Motherson Innovations. “It wasn’t an easy pitch to make. Our takeover target was twice the size of our company. But customers expressed their support.”
It took much more than just that. After several months of camping in hotel meeting rooms, late nights and endless cups of coffee, poring over figures and rechecking numbers, the company decided to bite the bullet. The deal
