Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company, the sovereign wealth fund of Bahrain, has acquired a significant minority equity stake in Premo Group, a leading manufacturer of customised passive electromagnetic components for applications in automotive, telecommunications and electronics industries, amongst others.
 
Premo was established in 1962 with headquarters in Malaga, Spain, from which the company oversees its international manufacturing facilities in China, Vietnam and Morocco and its 1,400 employees.

Premo applies its expertise in the development and application of innovative magnetics solutions throughout the value chain, from research and development (R&D) and design to industrial manufacturing. Its significant commitment to innovation includes R&D centres located in Spain, France, South Korea, China and the US while its regional representatives can be found in over 35 countries worldwide, said a statement.
 
Designed to strengthen Premo’s existing shareholder base led by the company’s management and Minerva Capital, this investment provides significant long-term backing for Premo’s ambitious global expansion plans as the group seeks to capitalise on its leading position in its strategic market segments, including the supply of inductive components for electrified vehicles (EV/HEVs) and motion-tracking technology for other growing markets such as augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR), it said.

Mahmood Alkooheji, chief executive officer, Mumtalakat, said: “With the upsurge in electric vehicle production and sales globally, from some thousand vehicles sold in 2010 to over 2 million sold in 2018 and a forecast of 10 million electric vehicles to be sold in 2025, the automotive electromagnetics market is projected to grow by six times in size by 2025.”

“Premo is well positioned to benefit from these strong market trends and its expertise is sought in the adoption of its technology across a broad range of applications,” he said.

“We look forward to working with Premo’s exceptional management team as the business continues to deliver new innovative solutions improving value propositions to customers. We strongly believe Premo has the potential to become a leading player in the power magnetics space, maintaining its strong position in the automotive sector whilst increasingly seeking to apply its expertise in new markets with potential game-changing adoptions of its proprietary patented technology,” added Alkooheji.
 
Ezequiel Navarro, chief executive officer, Premo Group, said: “This investment from such a highly-regarded and committed long term investor marks an important milestone for our company and is a significant vote of confidence in our highly capable and committed team of employees as we look to capitalise on our aims of being a key global player in the application of innovative magnetics.”
 
This latest investment marks Mumtalakat’s second investment in Spain. With real annual GDP growth of 2.5 per cent, Spain is ranked 30 out of the 189 countries in the World Bank Doing Business Index, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service