FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German auto maker Volkswagen (DE:VOWG) struck a slew of deals on Thursday to streamline its new Traton unit into a pure truck and bus business and prepare it for a planned stock market listing next year.
VW's legacy trucks unit MAN SE (DE:MANG) will sell a 76 percent stake in Renk AG (F:ZARG) and its wholly owned subsidiary MAN Energy Solutions SE to a subsidiary of VW, MAN SE said in a statement.
The purchase price for the deals would correspond to the expected equity book value of the holdings at the end of this calendar year, estimated to be between 1.85 and 2.05 billion euros ($2.1-$2.3 billion).
In addition, MAN SE's 100 percent indirect ownership of MAN Energy Solutions USA, Inc., will be sold and transferred to a subsidiary of VW for a purchase price of around $99 million. The sale is expected to be completed by the end of 2018.
"As a result of this transaction, Traton AG will become the lead company of a pure truck and bus group," MAN said in the statement.
VW is close to hiring Citigroup (N:C), Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn), Goldman Sachs (N:GS) and JP Morgan (N:JPM), sources say, to help with a mid-2019 listing that bosses estimate could raise up to 6 billion euros ($6.8 billion).
A domination and profit transfer agreement between VW and MAN will expire at the end of the year, meaning that the Wolfsburg-based auto maker would profit from any revaluation if the deals close before then.
($1 = 0.8794 euros)