NAGOYA, Japan – NGK Spark Plug Co. Ltd. has announced it will acquire all the shares of UCI Acquisition Holdings Corp. from UCI Holdings Ltd. UCI Acquisition owns Wells Manufacturing L.P., a leading supplier of switches, ignition coils and pressure sensors mainly to the U.S. automotive aftermarket.

NGK President and CEO Shinichi Odo commented, “Our automotive components business is our core and we strive to keep this position. In order to further strengthen the automotive components business, we have been pursuing various opportunities, including expanding both the product line-up and improving our penetration in various distribution channels.

“Wells is an ideal candidate for our expansion efforts and is a well-known automotive parts manufacturer with more than 100 years of history in the United States. Wells has exposure to the growing segment of vehicle electronics with broad product lines, whose main products include switches, ignition coils and pressure sensors. Wells has built a leading position in the U.S. automotive repair market and is working to increase its sales outside of the U.S.

“Both parties’ goals are well-aligned. We believe that the combination of the two will create significant synergies, including offering Wells products, in addition to our products, to the global repair market through our strong international sales network that we have built over many years. This combination will further strengthen our automotive components business, and also will keep challenging the company to create new businesses.”

The deal was signed on May 8 and is expected to close July 1. NGK will acquire all the shares of UCI Acquisition (the holding company for Wells) in a transaction valued at $257.5 million.