paragon AG: Planning now complete for China business
04/22/2015
DGAP-News: paragon AG: Planning now complete for China business
DGAP-News: paragon AG / Key word(s): Strategic Company Decision
2015-04-22 / 10:59
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paragon AG: Planning now complete for China business
- Own plant in Greater Shanghai area
- Joint venture with Chinese automotive supplier not to be implemented
- Experienced China expert to be General Manager
- Production due to start at end of 2015
Delbrück, April 22, 2015 - paragon AG has completed the planning for its
Chinese operation. The sales subsidiary already in Shanghai since 2012 will
be expanded into a manufacturing operation and will move in the coming
months into new premises offering ideal conditions in Kunshan not far from
Shanghai. Production is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2015. The joint
venture originally planned will not be implemented.
The new plant will in future manufacture air quality sensors - an area in
which paragon is the absolute global market leader -, air quality
improvement systems, and stepper motors for display instruments. The
company plans to expand its product range in a second stage. Kunshan is
less than 50 kilometers from Shanghai and is in one of the most
economically advanced areas in China. The plant is located in the "German
Industrial Park" - currently home to 70 medium-sized companies, of which 33
are German. Kunshan offers excellent production conditions, well-trained
specialist staff, and functional infrastructure.
Comments Klaus Dieter Frers, CEO of paragon AG: "We will now supply the
Chinese market independently. We will benefit not least from several
Chinese automakers acquired in recent months as new customers with
corresponding order volumes. To this end, we will shortly be moving into
the building let and specially fitted out for paragon in Kunshan, where our
sales activities will then also be based."
paragon has attracted Wolfgang Ketter - a highly reputed automotive product
manufacturing expert with more than 25 years of experience in the
automotive industry - as General Manager for its Chinese business. Wolfgang
Ketter has in recent years and among other roles already acted as head of
the Chinese division for a global automotive supplier. He was responsible
for developing several production sites in China and for acquiring new
customers and suppliers. "Mr. Ketter can contribute many years of
experience in China to his activities. His profile is a perfect match for
paragon and the task ahead", stressed CEO Klaus Frers.
paragon had initially planned to enter into a joint venture with a Chinese
automotive supplier. It has become apparent in the meantime that the trust
placed in the potential partner was not sufficiently justified. The
Managing Board has therefore decided in favor of a proprietary plant in
China.
Adds Frers: "Cooperation has to be based on trust. Where that is no longer
the case, it does not make sense to cooperate. We have acquired major
orders in China under our own steam. We will soon be manufacturing these at
our own plant without having to worry about our expertise being stolen."
Company profile
Listed in the regulated market (Prime Standard) of Deutsche Börse AG in
Frankfurt am Main, paragon AG develops, produces, and sells advanced
automotive electronics solutions. The portfolio of this direct supplier to
the automotive industry includes products in the following business
segments: Sensors, Acoustics, Cockpit, Electromobility, and Body
Kinematics. Headquartered in Delbrück (North Rhine-Westphalia), paragon AG
has branches in Suhl (Thuringia), Nuremberg (Bavaria), St. Georgen
(Baden-Württemberg), and Shanghai (China), the SphereDesign subsidiary in
Bexbach (Saarland) and a subsidiary in Austin (Texas, United States).
Contact
paragon AG
Schwalbenweg 29
33129 Delbrück
Germany
Tel: +49 (0) 52 50 - 97 62-0
Fax: +49 (0) 52 50 - 97 62-60
Internet: www.paragon.ag
E-mail: info@paragon.ag
Financial press & investor relations contact
Instinctif Deutschland GmbH
Michael Müller
Tel.: +49 (0) 221/42075-0
E-mail: michael.mueller@instinctif.com
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2015-04-22 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a
service of EQS Group AG.
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Language: English
Company: paragon AG
Schwalbenweg 29
33129 Delbrück
Germany
Phone: +49 (0)5250 97 62 - 0
Fax: +49 (0)5250 97 62 - 60
E-mail: investor@paragon.ag
Internet: www.paragon.ag
ISIN: DE0005558696, DE000A1TND93
WKN: 555869, A1TND9
Listed: Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated
Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Munich,
Stuttgart
End of News DGAP News-Service
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347035 2015-04-22
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