Faurecia in Strategic Investment and Cooperation with Clean-Tech Company Amminex

Cleary Gottlieb represented French automotive equipment supplier Faurecia in its strategic investment in Amminex A/S, a Danish clean-tech company that has developed a promising emissions control technology for diesel engine passenger and commercial vehicles. Cleary Gottlieb is also advising Faurecia in connection with a technological cooperation agreement with Amminex to develop and industrialize the technology.

Faurecia purchased a 21.2% equity stake in Amminex in a transaction, valued at 146.6 million Danish kroners (approximately 20 million euros), that closed on January 14, 2011, and also sealed a cooperation agreement with Amminex in September 2010. Pre-development activities under the framework of the cooperation agreement have already been initiated with several leading carmakers.

Amminex has leading expertise in the treatment of nitrogen oxides (NOx), and is the inventor of the Ammonia Storage and Delivery System (ASDS), a customer-friendly gaseous Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system (as an alternative to liquid SCR systems) that delivers precise amounts of ammonia to a catalyst in exhaust lines, and enables efficient removal of NOx from diesel engine exhaust systems. Faurecia and Amminex are hoping to develop this technology to help carmakers meet Euro 6 and future Euro 7 emissions regulations for diesel NOx reduction.