Michelin plans to buy Brazilian digital truck fleet management and freight security company Sascar for $602 million dollars. This move will allow the tiremaker to tap into strong growth in the independent trucker industry in Brazil, Michelin said.
The French company will take on 247 million reais in debt for Sascar, a Sao Paulo-based company. It currently employs 870 people and manages 33,000 fleets totaling 190,000 trucks. The company has grown 16% on average in the last three years due to Brazil’s large land transportation market, Michelin said in a statement.
Michelin’s Chief Executive Jean-Dominique Senard said that telematics – a sector overlapping telecommunications and transport – is an important area of growth for the French company.
“Michelin will benefit from the client base and human, technical and marketing skills built up by Sascar in the rapidly expanding telematics market for professional truck fleets,” said Senard.
