WABCO acquires truck parts, tech supplier

WABCO Holdings’ $145 million purchase of RH Sheppard Co., a Pennsylvania-based, privately held supplier of commercial vehicle technologies, is expected to close by the end of the third quarter.

   As part of a push to realize its goal of enabling commercial vehicles with ability to drive themselves, Brussels-based commercial vehicle parts and tech supplier WABCO Holdings is buying RH Sheppard Co., a Pennsylvania-based, privately held supplier of commercial vehicle technologies.
   The $145 million transaction is expected to close by the end of the third quarter, WABCO said in a statement Aug. 24. Sheppard, which currently has over 900 employees, had sales of $130 million in 2016.
   “This acquisition represents another key milestone as WABCO advances toward enabling self-driving commercial vehicles,” WABCO Chairman and CEO Jacques Esculier said in a statement.
   “We have a clear line of sight on the fundamental technologies – such as active steering, active braking, electronic stability control and other advanced driver assistance systems – which will enable significant intermediary steps on our industry’s path to realize fully autonomous driving,” Esculier explained.
   Sheppard, which offers a suite of power-steering gears for heavy-duty commercial and specialty vehicles, also provides engine pumps and remanufacturing services.
   “In addition, the company is vertically integrated with its own manufacturing and advanced foundry capabilities, which WABCO expects to use for some of its products,” WABCO added in a statement. “Furthermore, through an existing exclusivity agreement with a leading supplier of steering actuation controls, Sheppard will be able to offer a compact, cost-effective, breakthrough technological solution that enables active steering control for commercial vehicle manufacturers in North America.”
   Full dynamic control of commercial vehicles – lateral and longitudinal – is necessary to progressively achieve the industry’s vision of autonomous driving, and WABCO’s purchase of Sheppard is believed to be a step toward providing lateral control through active steering, something that would complement WABCO’s technologies in longitudinal control.
   “Our leading technologies will be fully integrated into the strategy of this industry leader on a journey to create opportunities for further growth in North America and globally,” RH Sheppard President and CEO Oliver Hoar said.