Mutares Lands Record $450M SABIC Deal Alongside Magna Automotive Buy

Mutares announces its largest acquisition ($450M) and closes a bolt-on lighting deal, but stock stays flat as investors await margin gains and debt reduction.

The market barely blinked. Mutares announced its largest acquisition ever — the purchase of SABIC’s engineering thermoplastics business — and followed it days later by closing another sizable deal in the automotive lighting space. Yet the stock continues to trade in a narrow range, hovering at €28.20 on Thursday, down 0.18% from the previous session.

The Munich-based holding company is executing a dual-track growth strategy: adding scale through a mega-transaction in engineered materials while deepening its industrial footprint via a bolt-on acquisition by its automotive division, Amaneos. Investors appear to be waiting for evidence that the combined moves will translate into higher margins and lower leverage.

The SABIC Transaction: A New Benchmark

Mutares is acquiring the engineering thermoplastics operations of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) for an enterprise value of $450 million. The deal marks the largest single acquisition in the company’s history. The acquired business generates approximately $2.5 billion in annual revenue and employs roughly 2,900 people across eight manufacturing sites.

The purchase strengthens the Engineering & Technology segment, where Mutares has already completed several prior transactions. Management expects the acquisition to align with the group’s 2026 revenue target of €7.9 billion to €9.1 billion and a net profit range of €165 million to €200 million.

Amaneos Completes Magna’s Lighting Business Takeover

Separately, Mutares confirmed that its subsidiary Amaneos has closed the acquisition of Magna’s European lighting operations. The deal adds around €200 million in revenue and 1,500 employees to the portfolio. Magna, one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers, is shedding its European front and rear lighting, accent lighting, and illuminated grille operations based on LED, OLED, and matrix technologies.

Four European sites are involved: two production plants in Moncalieri, Italy, and Kostrzyn nad Odr?, Poland, plus two development centers in Rivoli, Italy, and Ostrava, Czech Republic. Amaneos plans to integrate the lighting capabilities with its existing body-panel manufacturing, allowing automakers to source fully assembled modules rather than separate components.

Mutares expects synergies from joint research, pooled purchasing, and shared production to accelerate innovation and improve margins over the medium term.

Deleveraging and Portfolio Churn

While adding new businesses, Mutares is also pruning. The company has signed an agreement to sell NEM Energy Group to Hyundai Heavy Industries Power Systems. The purchase price was not disclosed, and completion is expected in the third quarter of 2026. Proceeds are earmarked for debt reduction.

On the bond side, Mutares has launched a structured buyback program. The group currently has €385 million in outstanding bonds and aims to reduce that to between €250 million and €300 million by the end of 2026. For the current quarter, management intends to repurchase at least €25 million from the 2023/2027 tranche, with a minimum of the same amount to follow each subsequent quarter.

A potential overhang has also been removed: Mutares cleared a key covenant test after breaching a debt metric last year. Creditors had granted a waiver until the end of June, and the company has now passed the critical date.

AGM and Dividend on the Agenda

Shareholders will gather on Friday for the ordinary annual general meeting covering the 2025 financial year. The board and supervisory board have proposed a dividend of €2.00 per share, framed as a minimum dividend going forward. The AGM will test whether management can credibly balance debt reduction with shareholder payouts while accelerating the exit pipeline promised for the second half of the year.

Muted Stock Response Despite Activity

The stock’s lack of reaction underscores persistent caution. At €28.20, Mutares shares have fallen 5.69% year to date and 18.50% over the past twelve months. The current price sits roughly 19.8% below the 52-week high of €35.15 reached in January and about 21% above the low of €23.30 from late April.

Chartwise, the stock trades just below its 200-day moving average of €28.93. The relative strength index stands at 49.7, indicating neutral momentum. Over the past 30 days, the shares have dropped 3.26%.

First-quarter results already showed operational momentum: group revenue rose 10% year-on-year to around €1.68 billion. The next milestones — the first bond buyback execution in the current quarter and the NEM Energy closing in Q3 2026 — will provide investors with tangible proof points on whether Mutares can deliver on its ambitious top-line forecast and simultaneously lighten its balance sheet.