SWARCO expands its footprint in France and Spain by acquiring the traffic technology business of LACROIX
Following recent successful negotiations, Austrian SWARCO and French LACROIX yesterday signed the official agreement to incorporate the traffic technology division of LACROIX City-Mobility into the SWARCO Group, contingent upon the completion of all closing conditions. Both parties are committed to meeting these conditions promptly to ensure a smooth transition and integration. LACROIX City-Mobility consists of three companies that manufacture signal heads, controllers, variable message signs, and signs for passenger information and also supply software for C-ITS and V2X communication. The number of employees is approximately 120 at the Carros (Southern France), Ploufragan (Bretagne) and Madrid (Spain) sites, with consolidated sales in 2023 amounting to € 27.3 million.
SWARCO CEO Michael Schuch comments:
“We have been successfully selling into the French market through esteemed partnerships for many years without having an own base in the country. The acquisition of LACROIX City-Mobility is a promising opportunity for us to amplify our presence in the French-speaking traffic technology markets, as well as in Spain. By uniting LACROIX City-Mobility’s expertise, geographic reach, and reputation with our market-leading ITS products, systems, and solutions, we are excited about the potential for substantial advancements. We are thrilled to welcome the LACROIX City-Mobility team to the SWARCO Family and look forward to evolving our business together.”
For LACROIX, this divestment was driven by the desire to refocus on its businesses with strong technological synergies in order to achieve its objective of becoming a global leader in industrial IoT solutions and electronic equipment for critical applications. Vincent Bedouin, CEO of the listed LACROIX Group, said:
“I am delighted with the sale to SWARCO, which will enable the City-Mobility segment to achieve its full potential over the long term. The quality of the discussions we had with SWARCO's management team underscores our shared industrial culture and orientations. This divestment will enable us to focus our energies on the markets in which we are best positioned to capture value, while supporting the Group's ambitions in terms of positive environmental impact.”
The transaction was signed right in time for the current ATEC ITS France conference in Montrouge near Paris, where both companies appear as exhibitors.
About SWARCO
SWARCO's leading idea is to improve quality of life by making the travel experience safer, quicker, more convenient, and environmentally sound. The Austrian company, headquartered in Wattens near Innsbruck, specialises in traffic technology and produces and supplies a wide range of products, systems, services and turnkey solutions for road marking, urban and interurban traffic management, parking, and public transport. Its cooperative systems, infrastructure-to-vehicle communication, e-mobility and modular holistic software solutions support tomorrow's mobility and make our communities more liveable. The Group is the world leader in high-performance road marking systems and the largest producer of LED-based traffic lights and variable message signs. More than 5,500 colleagues in 25 countries serve customers in 80 countries and generate revenues of over 1.2 billion euros.
www.swarco.com.
About Lacroix
Convinced that technology must contribute to simple, sustainable, and safer environments, LACROIX supports its customers in developing more sustainable living ecosystems, thanks to useful, robust, and secure electronic equipment and connected technologies.
As a listed, family-owned midcap with a €761 million revenue in 2023, LACROIX combines agile innovation, industrialization capacity, cutting-edge technological know-how and a long-term vision to meet environmental and societal challenges through its activities: Electronics and Environment.
Through its Electronics business, LACROIX designs and manufactures industrial IoT solutions (hardware, software, and cloud) and electronic equipment for the automotive, industrial, connected homes and buildings (HBAS), avionics and defense, and healthcare sectors. As the Group's industrial backbone, the Electronics activity of LACROIX, is ranked among the TOP 50 worldwide and TOP 10 European EMS,
Through its Environment activity, LACROIX also supplies secure and connected electronic equipment and IoT solutions to optimize the management of water networks, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning installations, as well as smart grids and smart lighting networks.
www.lacroix-city.fr;
www.lacroix-group.com