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Bosch makes billion-dollar US acquisition

German automotive parts maker Bosch said Tuesday it has agreed to acquire SPX Service Solutions, a US maker of car service tools, workshop equipment and software for $1.15 billion (€883 million).

Published: 24 January 2012 15:14 CET
Bosch makes billion-dollar US acquisition
Photo: DPA

“The Bosch Automotive Aftermarket division plans to acquire the Service Solutions business of SPX Corporation. An agreement to this effect was signed on January 23,” Bosch said in a statement.

Bosch said SPX Service Solutions “develops, manufactures and sells diagnostic and service tools, workshop equipment, and software for the global automotive aftermarket” and had estimated sales of $920 million last year.

“Acquiring SPX Service Solutions will help make Bosch one of the leading providers of diagnostic solutions,” said division chief Robert Hanser.

“The acquisition will allow us to considerably expand our market presence in the diagnostics business, particularly in North America. In addition, we will strengthen our position in Asia Pacific and Europe, especially in our diagnostics business with automakers,” Hanser said.

AFP/mry

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FARMING

WTO rules US tariffs on Spanish olives breach rules

A US decision to slap steep import duties on Spanish olives over claims they benefited from subsidies constituted a violation of international trade rules, the World Trade Organisation ruled Friday.

Published: 22 November 2021 11:34 CET
WTO rules US tariffs on Spanish olives breach rules
Farmers had just begun harvesting olives in southern Spain when former US President Donald Trump soured the mood with the tariffs' announcement. Photo: Jorge Guerrero/AFP

Former US president Donald Trump’s administration slapped extra tariffs on Spain’s iconic agricultural export in 2018, considering their olives were subsidised and being dumped on the US market at prices below their real value.

The combined rates of the anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duties go as high as 44 percent.

The European Commission, which handles trade policy for the 27 EU states, said the move was unacceptable and turned to the WTO, where a panel of experts was appointed to examine the case.

In Friday’s ruling, the WTO panel agreed with the EU’s argument that the anti-subsidy duties were illegal.

But it did not support its stance that the US anti-dumping duties violated international trade rules.

The panel said it “recommended that the United States bring its measures into conformity with its obligations”.

EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis hailed the ruling, pointing out that the US duties “severely hit Spanish olive producers.”

Demonstrators take part in a 2019 protest in Madrid, called by the olive sector
Demonstrators take part in a 2019 protest in Madrid called by the olive sector to denounce low prices of olive oil and the 25 percent tariff that Spanish olives and olive oil faced in the United States. (Photo by PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU / AFP)
 

“We now expect the US to take the appropriate steps to implement the WTO ruling, so that exports of ripe olives from Spain to the US can resume under normal conditions,” he said.

The European Commission charges that Spain’s exports of ripe olives to the United States, which previously raked in €67 million ($75.6 million) annually, have shrunk by nearly 60 percent since the duties were imposed.

The office of the US Trade Representative in Washington did not immediately comment on the ruling.

According to WTO rules, the parties have 60 days to file for an appeal.

If the United States does file an appeal though, it would basically amount to a veto of the ruling.

That is because the WTO Appellate Body — also known as the supreme court of world trade — stopped functioning in late 2019 after Washington blocked the appointment of new judges.

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