China National Machinery Industry Corporation (Sinomach) has made an offer to take over German paint engineering specialist Eisenmann, in a move to strengthen its position in industrial systems for auto manufacturing.

German trade media report that the deal is being done via a German Sinomach subsidiary of AE Industry. Automotive Engineering Corporation (AE Corp) is the automotive division of the Sinomach Group, which employs around 180,000 people in over 170 countries.

In July, Eisenmann filed an application for the opening of insolvency proceedings with the Stuttgart courts, after heavy losses in 2018.

Family-owned Eisenmann is one of the leading international suppliers of plants and services in the fields of surface technology, material flow automation and thermal process technology.

Eisenmann is based in the southwestern German state of Baden Wuerttemberg. It operates in Europe, America and the BRIC countries at 27 locations, with more than 3,000 employees. The firm’s 2017 revenue was 723 million euros (US$800.18 million).

The company advises customers on building flexible, energy-efficient and resource-saving plants according to individual requirements for modern production and intralogistics. For example, last year Eisenmann began building a turnkey paint shop for Zhejiang DEARCC in Shaoxing, China.

Sinomach had expressed an interest in acquiring Eisenmann two years ago, but German media say that the talks faltered over the price.

The final contractual details of the current takeover, probably including a one-year employment guarantee for Eisenmann employees, are now being negotiated.

Sinomach is a Fortune Global 500 enterprise and its headquarters is located in Beijing’s technology hub Zhongguancun.