Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the JOST Werke conference call. I would like to remind you that all participants will be in listen-only mode, and the conference is being recorded. The presentation will be followed by a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question from the webinar, you may click the Q&A button on the left side of your screen and then click the Raise Your Hand button. For a written question, please click the Q&A button and then Text button and type in your question. If you're connected via phone, please press Star followed by one on your telephone keypad. For operator assistance, please press the Operator Assistance button on the bottom left on your screen or Star zero on your telephone keypad. At this time, it's my pleasure to hand over to Joachim Dürr, CEO. Please go ahead, sir.
Yes, thank you very much, and good morning here from the IAA Transportation in Hanover. We're very happy to share some exciting news about the development of JOST and to have this call, and I hope with a lot of attendance and a lot of interest, but for JOST, this is a big step towards our strategy that we have presented in capital markets, and we're happy to share the most relevant information with you today, so we have signed an exclusivity agreement to acquire the company Hyva, and we would like to explain to you the background and our intentions for this step. Hello, you can go to the next slide. We're trying to find out how to go to the next slide. Okay. Here we go. We have a formal exclusivity agreement to acquire the Hyva Group, and we have signed that yesterday.
Hyva is a very well-recognized branded product that we are proud to add to our existing portfolio of branded products. Hyva is the global market leader in hydraulic tipping cylinders and has an experienced management team and staff, and of course, very well-recognized products around the world. It will give us a more balanced geographical exposure in the regions where we expect higher growth rates, like Americas and Asia-Pacific and Africa. It increases our exposure to both faster-growing markets and to the off-highway applications, which traditionally have a more interesting margin rates than the transport equipment. It is the first increase of scale for our company, and with that, it provides synergy leverage and potential for new business. It will be a value accretive and additional from the beginning and shows additional significant synergy potential.
We have shown you in the past the strategic, M&A criteria that we use when we think of M&A, and I'm very happy to report that Hyva is ticking all boxes. It is commercial vehicle, it is a high relevant market strength, it's a high share of the branded equipment and a high share of our market. It provides the opportunity to do push and pull in the market. That means selling to the OE, and at the same time, creating pulls at the end customers and at the dealers. It is the company that provides the technology leadership in this industry and for its products.
The product itself has a low share of overall cost for the operator, which means, it's a mission-critical component, and our customers are willing to pay a premium for a reliable product because if the vehicle does not perform, the damage is much bigger than the little more of investment that they can do. It fits in our manufacturing, in our logistics, and to our service processes, and with that provides synergy potential for the company. Go to the next slide. Hyva Group, an overview, has been founded in nineteen hundred and seventy-nine. It's headquartered in the Netherlands. They have approximately 3,000 employees, and the sellers are two private equity funds that hold 40% of the shares, and management holds 20% of the shares. They have 14 production sites worldwide.
The revenue in 2023 has been EUR 624 million , and the adjusted EBIT margin last year has been EUR 35 million . On an LTM basis, that is the same, EUR 624 for turnover and EUR 41 million in adjusted EBIT. The industries that Hyva serves is the construction and mining industry, transport industry, agriculture, and environmental, and with that, it fits very well to the already existing portfolio that the JOST group offers to its industries and customers. Next slide. Here, a quick overview of the products. The front end cylinders are the main products that Hyva is known for around the world. They also have underbody cylinders, skiploaders, cranes, virtual selectors, and hookloaders. And they also invested recently in dock shelters and loading bridges.
And last but not least, there's also digital equipment and similar to the digital equipment that JOST has for its portfolio. That is, a basis, a common technology base that we can use in the future, which is critical to develop the right and new digital applications. Next slide. The sales, the global sales, of Hyva, European, the European region is the biggest region with Middle East and Africa, with around EUR 200 million. Second biggest region is China and Asia, with EUR 160 million, India with EUR 131 million, then South America with EUR 70 million and North America with EUR 52 million.
If you add that to the existing sales that JOST has, it will strengthen our sales in the fastest growing region in China, Asia, India, and also South America. So from that perspective, from that view, is also a very nice addition to our existing sales channels globally. Next slide. Yeah. In addition to that, we also gain in hydraulic knowledge. We are using hydraulic components in a number of our existing products, in the agriculture products, of course, in the front loaders, and also in the backhoe, but also in axle systems, in suspension systems and steering systems that we use today.
So the hydraulic capabilities and the hydraulic know-how and technology that we gain with the knowledge of the people from Hyva and the product from Hyva really helps us build a stronger basis for the hydraulic applications that we have in the entire JOST group. So also that is the technological addition to us that is more about that. Next slide. Yeah, and I've already talked a little bit about the exposure to what we call off-highway applications. Today, JOST has an agriculture, construction, and other off-highway applications, around 25%-30% of its sales, and transport and logistics, 70%-75% of its sales. With the addition of Hyva, that will grow to 45%-50% for off-highway applications and 50%-55% of on-highway applications.
And with that, also a more balanced footprint than we have today. Next slide. Yes, the regional development. JOST is very strong in Europe, Middle East, and Africa, with around 700 million today. That is 66% of our overall share and sales that will grow to EUR 912 million and represent 49% of the shares. I'm not gonna read all the numbers, but the very obvious is that from the distribution we will gain in the fastest growing markets, and that's South America, with a growth rate of 2.3%, India, growth rate of 6.5%, China, rest of Asia, with growth rates around 4%. In these areas, we will gain share, and with that, we will be better represented in the fastest growing economies.
As I said, that's a very welcome side effect of the distribution of the sales distribution that Hyva has today. Next slide. We've also checked for the mega trends. You know that I typically say that transport depends on the GDP, and as long as there is population and GDP growth, the transport industry will grow. Agriculture, as long as the world population grows and wants to eat more refined foods, there needs to be more professional and more mechanized agriculture, which we support. And also for the construction industry and for the infrastructure industry, there is industry trends that support us in all these regions. We've checked for that. I'm not gonna go through all the details because I'm sure you're eager to hear the financial numbers from Oliver.
But the trend of the more heavy construction, the housing gaps that we have in Europe and North America, and the increased urbanization in Asia helps and is supported by that trend. More infrastructure and mining and technological trends that require smaller, more agile vehicles will lead to an increase in need for Hyva products in the future. So it's also based on very solid trends that we see in the industry. With that, to my introduction about the rationality behind this deal and all the potential shifts on financial numbers.
Thanks, Joachim. Okay, then, as far as we can show, and as we have seen and it was announced, we have only limited information at all, at the moment that we came to close. Nevertheless, have a look at this. Joachim pointed that out in the beginning. It's focused on last twelve months, which was basically the basis for our due diligence up to now. It's around EUR 624 million , with an EBITDA of around 146, which is a margin of 22.4%. So a little bit less than in our answer section, but you will come to a quick overview on the synergy area that we defined already.
Just to see this is a long project for we will get at the moment, resulting in a margin of, I think, shy of 7%. And that's the basis on which we build on. And we are very confident to improve that with the possible combination of both businesses in the near future. The next slide. And that, what we have done here, based on somehow of a pro forma combination of those businesses based on the June numbers, our June numbers are as close. We will end up at a total group of around EUR 1,800 million in sales, gross profit of around EUR 470 million, which is then allows 25.7% gross profit margin on combined basis.
Resulting in an increase, so adjusted EBIT of around 175, which, in margin, is 9.6%, and for this most of the time for that last twelve months. Yeah, and with that, already very close to the strategic margin target, as we have shown last week on our capital market day. All of those things that was included with the synergies that we have identified for sure, that we have seen in the near future once we have been combined. Next page. Yeah, for the ones that know us a little bit longer, you know that we are separating our internal initiatives to improve the company always into two levels.
One is the business growth, which is about efficiency, and competitiveness in cost structure, so product cost structure, footprint cost structure. And the other side, more market oriented, is somehow the growth, you know. And the whole division or for sure, right from the beginning, let's say, under the investigation, we are in the area, because we see a lot of them. And what you can see here, in business areas, it's quite obvious, you know, with the footprint possibility to much higher purchasing power than we have on a combined basis. With the possibility to share certain back office services, around the globe. And here we are already very advanced, so those organizations can benefit from that, definitely.
We have footprint synergies. I have just shown the strong footprint of Hyva in India. Now, we are just starting, so to speak, our expansion in India, so there might be possibilities as well. Hyva has still much growth potential in North America. We have a strong footprint there, so those all are investment synergies. For sure, we have a lot of potential in logistics, not only in terms of high volume, but also in the logistics footprint, warehouses, et cetera. There will be synergies going forward. There's also, on the other side, a lot of synergies on growth area, you know.
We've seen lots of growth rate opportunities in the past, growing regions, like I mentioned, Latin America, but Asia, but also Brazil, as we have seen a strong footprint of Hyva in Brazil. Operating a leverage, I just mentioned, but also that is towards the customer. Share quality increase, our relevance to our customers in a positive way increase. That's what we have also discussed in the capital market space, that with all the consolidation trends, especially in the high section, we as a supplier for the industry and our position is to be the number one supplier for all high applications. We need to grow, we need to stay relevant, and that's the first perfectly said so.
Also, what we have seen so far is that Hyva has a very large and pretty mature, portfolio in terms of R&D and R&D development. And this is not, will not bring us together, not internally, but also for new products, going forward. And for sure, you know that those we like brands, and Hyva is a very, very strong brand, and we are really proud. One, this, if it happens, that Hyva can, come out aftermarket going forward together, which will be huge power, as we see. Next page, please. If you put that in different numbers, we have, already identified between 23 and 28 billion, opportunities. There is more potential somehow in the, let's say, idea pipeline. But at the moment, we have not yet signed an SPA.
We need to wait for the SPA, we need to wait for closing, then we go with the PMI phase, like we have done in the past, and then hopefully we can identify a lot of potential, but already, and including, let's say, a little bit of this, but we are confident that this acquisition will deliver synergies that we, that we need, but also that we clearly see going forward, and with that, we are quite confident that the business can be shifted up into our margin target, after on, on a runway basis, after around two years, and that's very clear. On those kind of overall perspectives, we increased it in certain other measures, right from the beginning. Next page. What is to tell at the moment about financing and next steps?
As here, the transaction status is that we signed the binding exclusivity agreement. So there are certain necessary, especially the easy technical steps, to be done. Both parties are very confident in targeting to sign the asset purchase agreement in Q4 2024 . Let's say probably in a couple of weeks, shouldn't be more short term and long term. And from a financial point of view, also as announced yesterday, we will finance the transaction with existing cash on hand and also with undrawn debt financing that has increased already by our current acquisitions, but we do not plan capital raises to finance the acquisition. We have seen the LTM numbers on a pro forma combined basis.
If you just take that a little bit out of basis, and excluding higher sixty profitability, we would expect that the net debt to adjusted EBITDA levels would remain below a factor of two point five times EBITDA, which is also important for us, because that is for us and obviously if you want to help the financing down the line, we do not limit our capability here. We stay in the investment grade, which definitely and impact something specific there. Also, the strategic corridor, which we grow to .10 in 2020 pretty fast after closing that acquisition, we started to generate a few thousand. I think that's the last slide from my side, and I mean, there's another one slide regarding PMI. I don't want to go into all the details.
We are already setting up as far as we can, PMI activities, PMI screening, with very experienced M&A and PMI on board, have improved their capabilities, after the Ålö acquisition, and that's for sure a strong basis, for all that has to come over the next, let's say, one to two years, and as you can see, we have a lot of probably small units which will show possibilities and impact in all the areas like cost, commercial operations, G&A are all very important, and we see this as a strong basis in terms of technology and platform. With that, next slide, please. I think over to the other board members.
Yeah. Thank you very much, Oliver. Yeah, as I said at the beginning, we are really excited about this opportunity. I hope you can follow our logic. To me, it's, you know, the industrial logic is overwhelming. It makes a lot of sense to bring the strong brands together, and Hyva is a very strong brand, has a market leading position, and that fits very well to the already existing brands in our portfolio and creates a perfect strategic fit. We have a high overlap in customers and high overlap in end markets, and that increases our relevance with the customers and increases the basis so that we can generate scale effects in these markets and be more effective than we are on a separate basis.
We have synergy add-ons through the expansion, and we have a larger off-highway exposure, which is very healthy for us. The short and medium synergies, we see what we want to 20 million, and we see this on the slide. Synergies to us is on the one side, additional sales opportunities that we can generate because we are using an existing organization and additional products. It is an improved margin in terms of contribution margin, because of higher and more professional opportunities in purchasing and also in manufacturing. And of course, there is SG&A synergies that we're looking at in IT and other areas where we don't have to duplicate the costs just because we're duplicating with the business.
And that's true for IT costs and for other costs. So it's a huge, big opportunity, and we think that the acquisition of Hyva has a big value creation for our shareholders, and it will be significantly value accretive, especially after we implement the synergies. But even without those synergies, we see it as a significant value increase already. With that, very happy to inform you here from the Hyva booth in Hanover, and we're open to your questions.
We now begin the question and answer session. Anyone wish to ask a question from the webinar may click the Q&A button on the left side of the screen, and then click the Raise Your Hand button. For written question, please click the Q&A button and then Text button and type in your question. If you are connected via phone, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad. You will need a tone to confirm that you've entered the queue. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press the Lower Your Hand button from the webinar or press star and two in your telephone. Anyone with a question, may queue up now. The first question is from Yasmin Steilen with Berenberg. Please go ahead.
... Hello. Thanks very much, and please apologize for the background noise. I'm not in the office, but also at the IAA Transportation fair already. So many thanks for taking my questions. I have three, if I may. So the first one, I'm a bit surprised that the company with such a dominant market position and off-highway generated, or generates a margin of around 7% adjusted EBIT margin, with a comparable aftermarket profile, and after the, decade of private equity ownership. So what are the main reasons for the, low profitability in your view? So that is my first question. Then the second one, since the acquisition by the private equity owner, Hyva was expanding its business, in particular in Asia, partly also by M&A.
Could you please shed more color on Hyva's organic growth, development and the margin profile through the cycle since the acquisition by the Leonardo? And the last one, could you please provide more insight into the sales by different product groups? So what proportion of sales relates to the cranes and the hydraulic cylinders? What proportion relates to aftermarket, and what sales contribution comes from the other products? Thank you very much.
Yeah, thank you very much for your, for your questions. With the background noise, I think we've got most of it. For the first question, I repeat the question: why was-- why is the current performance and the profitability so low, considering that, it is a market leading as global position? It's hard for us to judge, but, I think the focus has been very much on China, and China has not developed in the way, it was expected maybe five years ago. And then, probably maybe also due to the fact that there was a PE ownership, that there was no, no quick way of investing into other markets.
Maybe it was not possible to gain all the opportunities in the other markets quick enough, and that the dependency on China has maybe had a dilutive effect on that. I think with our global set up and with our agility to build the business up in different regions quickly and do the necessary investment if needed, we will be able to be more agile and benefit more from the global opportunities. So that to me is one of the reasons. But I don't want to judge too much on the history; we're more looking forward and looking towards the future.
And then, Yasmin, if I got it right, so the second question was about what was the organic growth of Hyva in the past. There hasn't been much, basically no, inorganic growth in the past. So Hyva is set up for a couple of years now, and as you also just pointed out, now, there is a couple of years after the after COVID from the downturn in the real estate and construction market in in Asia. That's why we haven't seen much organic growth over the past two to three years of that. Regarding product share, if you would split that a little bit, the company into, say, the main product area, which is about component, which is to the left, that's the majority, cylinder, and cylinder, close to cylinder application.
That's a bit shy of around two thirds of the overall sales volume, and then the other third goes to crane business, goes into the hookloader, skiploader, and also the docking and bridges , which is more or less than so that's, let's say it's half and half.
Okay. Thanks very much. I step back into line.
Thank you.
The next question is from Jorge González Sadornil , with HAIB. Please go ahead.
Hello, Joachim, Oliver. Thank you for taking my questions, and congratulations for this fast transaction after the Capital Market Day. I have also a few questions. The first one, let me follow up with the question that Yasmin just did. So this means that if the rest of regions so outside China, your margins are the margins of Hyva are more similar to what JOST has at this point? So it's a good part of the, there is a good part of the solution to increase margins to adjust the current footprint in China. Is this what you are suggesting?
China, and then what has happened, that probably was a limitation to benefit from other markets, and at the same time, probably diluted the profitability in that region. So of course, our focus will be to maintain China and to certain Chinese markets, but to focus more on growth, which will be in other Asian markets, and from my... I think your question was also what is the profitability of those products in other Asian markets?
... I cannot give you a really good answer on that right now, because I don't have it off the top of my head. Maybe Oliver has a bit more information on that. But from deriving from our existing products, I can say that the market outside of China, in general, are a bit better in margins than the Chinese market, because we typically have competitive market in China. So I expect the margin outside of China, for the rest of Asia and the other regions, to be more interesting than the margins in China itself.
Okay. I understand also that in Asia, in China, the aftermarket is not as strong, no? So that maybe is also,
Yeah
Something that changed, not the profile. So I have a question regarding the end markets. So I understand that you focus the message on Hyva's strengthening the off-highway sales. So I understand that the part that corresponds to transport in general is small, no? And the end markets are construction and agriculture, but I don't know if you can give us a rough split, more or less of-
I can do, I can do. So if you, if you say transport, all in all, you could think about 25% of the total revenue. 25%.
Mm-hmm.
Construction, also around 25%. Agriculture, around 10%. Mining, around 10%, and then probably other off-highway markets, but these are the big four to know, no.
And how is the competitive environment at this point? Because other companies like PALFINGER have needed to adjust capacities that it didn't happen for a long time. And so this first semester was quite strong, but there is no visibility on the utilization levels for the rest of the year and the first part of next year. This is something Hyva is experiencing, something similar, so next year we should not expect growth or the diversification of Hyva is quite different to PALFINGER. So we should not expect the company to develop flattish in the following months.
In, do you mean in total or you said in the market?
Yeah, in general, I mean, if Hyva is now impacted by-
I think it cannot be-
-levels.
PALFINGER is for, let's say, a certain share of the portfolio of competitor.
Mm-hmm.
We cannot take this as a measure for the whole company for that is too equally developed. So as I said, the transport included, there is mining included, et cetera, et cetera. But we see now the past, let's say after months, quite stable development. Despite, again, 25% share in transport and logistics, and we all know transport and logistics goes down, we assume that there is some effect in quite stable. The other, like construction, et cetera, at the moment, from that they are benefiting, you know. They are a little bit more flattish. They are not so cyclical at the moment than we are.
Yeah. Maybe I can make the question in a different way. So this EUR 600 million sales, we should consider in a context of a down cycle or not really? So we should expect some growth stemming from the recovery of the markets in the following-
Yeah.
Yes?
Yes. Yeah.
Okay. Do you have a view on the through the cycle margin, apart from the synergies for this business?
You mean from a... So say again, from a timing point of view or?
Yeah. So this is 7% margin, considering that is through.
Yeah.
-the down cycle?
I think it's already there. We have not signed an MTA. So it is just a matter of signing of the MTA, when it's closing, when we can go with the PMI. Definitely, what we expect is once we are together and we have our teams on board, within the 24 months, after closing, this is important, no? Should be doing our strategic margin, as well.
Okay, thank you. And my very last question, so I allow my colleagues also to some questions. So, this M&A obviously is tops your target, now that you presented us last week, and I was wondering, are you still eager to continue doing M&As for growing your agriculture business? Because I understood with the previous presentations and also in the capital markets day, that you really foresee a lot of potential in the agricultural business.
Mm-hmm.
So I'm wondering if you are closing the M&A window for some time, or it depends on the opportunities that arise, or you are now looking more into do greenfields maybe after this transaction? What is your view on potential additional M&As?
Yeah. I think we showed last week that we have organic measures, and we have inorganic measures, and with the inorganic measures, M&A is obviously very important. I also mentioned last week, and I'm happy to repeat that in my mind, you need three things for good M&A. On the one hand, you need to have the right target, and the right target means a company that fits to yours, and a company where we can be the best owner, where that can develop good when it, when we join forces.
… The second is we need to have a balance sheet so that we can finance that, and I think we laid out that this is a big acquisition for us. It's a really important, it's a deeply important acquisition for us, but it will not bring us beyond the limit of what we can finance, but I think it's a big one, and we would like to go back to the strategic portfolio before adding another larger acquisition to it. The third thing we need is, we need an organization to do the integration. Because we're not a PE fund that buys assets and puts them next to each other. The value that we generate is integrating, going to the customers, making sure we get the synergies on both sides.
Increasing the turnover and gaining the operational leverage, the purchasing leverage, and then spending time scaling on our GMA structure. We need some time for that. We need the right people for that. We don't know the people of Hyva. We have feeling they are industry experts like ours, so that we can be very quick in doing all of this. I would say we would probably need a while to really create the value that we want to create before we take another large step. That is not closing the window. There could be some strategic, smaller, that fit well, or a regional approach that we can have regionally.
But, we would like to make sure that we really implement these things well, that we generate the value before we take on another large M&A like this one.
Understood. Thank you very much, for your answers. I go back to the line.
As a reminder, if you wish to register for a question, you may press star one on your telephone. From webinar, you can click the Q&A button on the left side and on Raise Your Hand button.
We have some written questions that I will read now. The first one comes from Matthias Maerkl from Kepler Cheuvreux. He asks, "On the concept with the estimated shares of deals are currently undervalued, can you show the reasoning on the capital allocation decision to do M&A rather than buyback? Why does the Q&A deal create more shareholder value than buyback shares?
I can do this. I mean, this at this stage in time, purchase price has not been finally set for this. So, I cannot answer here too much. All I can say is for sure now, but we have investigated the current value of the business, plus the synergies in certain areas. We are, you know, 100% confident now that in the calculations, EBIT or EBITDA for synergies, definitely the much better capital allocation for our shareholders than buyback shares. So that's all. And that's the basis for our investigation, you will see. And once we have set the purchase price and close it, we can then also talk about multiple, pre and post synergies.
That is the financial and very amazing answer. No, I'm serious. But there's also a strategic answer to that. Because if you look at yours and we are in the future together, the strategic strength of that company, the value for our customers, is a much bigger protection for the future of the company than if we would not generate those scales. So, I think financially it makes a lot of sense, but also strategically it's a compelling logic, because it fits into logic and it generates the scale that we need to operate globally, with all the requirements that are continuously added by regulation, but also by our customers.
We have another question from Claudio De Ranieri , from Albemarle Asset Management . "Why is the competitive landscape? Who are the main players active in the business? Who is the number one player in the North American market?" And then, the last one from him: "Are Chinese players selling into European and North American markets with export sales in this business?
Yeah, I think it's a little bit, so the competitive landscape is a little bit like in our industry. I would say there is one real big player, which is Hyva, with a constantly global market share of around 40%. And then it is what we see as, let's say bigger competitors, but more regionally innovative. And then it goes really into country by country and European regional competitors. So it's crazy. Yeah, the major reason why we looked at Hyva in normal levels as far as the market leader.
Yeah. No, unfortunately, global market leader and, there are opportunities in North America. There are opportunities in some other markets, but it's by far the most global brand that operates, and therefore it's a very good fit to us.
The next question comes from Bernard Steadman, from ANI Investment. This was again about the competitive landscape, which has been answered. Then the next one from him is: "What is the aftermarket shares of sales of Hyva? And can you please elaborate in the future hydraulics of the technology in the context of electrification of commercial vehicles?
Just briefly to aftermarket share, it, I would say all is comparable to the old share at the moment. It will be the same in nature and same regional channels, and the aftermarket pretty comparable to our current share.
... Yeah. And so then hydraulics, and I think I understand the question, like that, is hydraulic going to be replaced by electric driven cylinders, for example, in the future? And the clear answer to that is for the Hyva products, that is not the case, because you need enormous force to check the different bodies, and that can only be generated with the hydraulic power that you have. What you will see is that the hydraulic pumps that are driven by combustion engines, they will be literally driven by electric engines. But the hydraulic system itself will be needed. There will probably be more technologies in making that more efficient.
If you have an electric hydraulic pump, you know, it can run more demand driven than waste pumps. So there is certainly some big technologies that we can add, digital technologies that can be added, but the hydraulic component itself will be required for those applications. Did we skip a yoga?
I'm sorry. Yes, we did. From Dennis Mulz of Metzler Capital Markets, what is the sales growth in China? Can we expect the multiples paid for Hyva to be below those for the multiples pre-synergy? And do you expect any change to dividend policy to focus on the leverage of the acquisition?
Oh, yeah. I think this one.
Yeah. In China, I think you are in the show to have a listing on, let's say, 25%.
I would say so far.
Regarding multiples, purchase price has not been agreed. I cannot exclude these efforts from us. And regarding dividend policy at the moment, but we do not expect a change in our dividend policy.
Okay. The next one is also from, as a considerate mix from Paul Barber and also relates to size. Has the price been agreed yet, why are you having to call, discussing the upside without the signed deal? And if the price has been agreed, why it's not closed?
Yeah. The answer is no price agreed at this point in time. But we are in the process at the point where we have to disclose those banks. It's capital markets legislation that requires us to do that. And we are very certain that we will close the deal and both parties are fully committed. There is some legal things that need that still being worked on. And the final price is not fully agreed, but it is in a range where we can make this adjustment. And since we have to disclose it, we will try to give you as much possible information so that you will get a feeling of what the deal will be about.
We are very certain that we will be exactly in that range, when we have the final document signed, in the months or so.
The next one comes from Erin Duff, from Lunch and Hanson. Who is going to manage Hyva following the deal? Is there a retention plan for management, or are you going to bring those managers in?
Yeah, it's a great way to say that, but our general approach is that we buy it or we invest in these companies because of their products, because of their sales channels, but especially because of the professional people that they have. Hyva is the market leader worldwide because they have the people that know how to do their business and, of course, this will be a big asset to us and, like we've done it in the AV, we keep the people in the game. We make sure that we combine the forces in a very subtle way so that we win the competition together, and that will be the same, the same here with Hyva. We're not taking any decision beyond that, and certainly that will not happen before closing any time.
But our general way is to make sure that we use the competency, because that's the reason why we are interested in Hyva and why we intend to integrate into our family.
I think we did have one question from Bernard Stickman that we didn't answer regarding the future of hydraulics in the context of vehicle, commercial vehicle electrification. How are opinions on that?
No, I think we discussed a little bit where electrification has an impact on hydraulics. I mentioned that, yes, there will be additional technologies needed, and that the hydraulic pumps itself will be driven by electric engines. There is in some areas, like power in a car, where you have seen hydraulic supports being replaced by electric support. But for these applications, there will be hydraulic also in the future, you need it in order to generate the necessary forces. But it will be more integrated into an electric system, and these are the technologies that Hyva is already developing. Hyva is the technology leader for these products, and, of course, will be the leader in integrating these functions into electric vehicles in the future.
So we have one last question in the web conference before we go back to the questions from telephone. From Matthias Maerkl from Kepler Cheuvreux: What's the deal with the auction, and how much competition was there?
We are in an exclusive process. It's not an option. And therefore, it's an exclusive negotiation process that we have been working on, and now we are on the more public, and that's the reason why we are communicating with you.
... Okay, then we go back to the telephone questions, please, moderator.
We have a follow-up question from Yasmin Steilen with Bloomberg. Please go ahead.
Thanks very much for taking my question. So I acknowledge it's very early stage, and you have not agreed on the final purchase price. But could you give us an indication about the free cash flow profile of Hyva, and how should we think about the deal approaching timeframe to come back to your target corridor of one to two times EBITDA leverage? Thanks very much.
Me, personally, I look at the second part. We have a free cash flow profile, let's say, on the relative base, lower volume and a little bit lower margin as well. But from the composition of the elements, in CL as far as flow is the cash flow, very similar to the different points. Yeah, and the second question was, when do we expect to be back in our strategic corridor? I know it's probably between one and two. And with we had a quite strict reduction of our debt with the cash that we could generate. I don't know, you know, where you-
I think again, it's early because again, the purchase price has not been closed yet, and will be also based on a completion accounts mechanism. So there might be some fluctuation. However, for sure, 2025, we will focus heavily on the business team, strongly on cash flow generation, because we have the changes. We are very confident that it won't take too long. Yeah.
Thank you very much for that.
Thank you.
The next question is from Evan Kleinman with Citadel. Please go ahead. Mr. Kleinman, your line is open.
We cannot hear you.
Seems like the microphone is closed.
Evan, we cannot hear your question. We're only able to chat. I'm very sorry. We see you speaking, but we cannot hear you. How are you doing in tech?
We can't hear you, Mr. Kleinman. I need to close your line.
I believe he is-
Wait a moment for him to put it in text, otherwise, I think.
He can also reach out.
Yeah.
So yeah.
Otherwise, there are not more waiting questions on this. I think right now, I think we are. Let's see. End of the Q&A session. I don't see any more questions. Evan, you can reach out to me later. Let's do it like that, because I'm not seeing your question here or in the Q&A queue anymore. Okay? Yeah.
Okay. With that, as I mentioned, we're very happy to announce this. We're very happy to be able to add Hyva to the brands, to the global brands that we have. I'm very excited for this step, and I think it's a good step for you guys, a good step for JOST, and it's a good step for our customers, and certainly will be a good step for our shareholders. So thank you very much for your attention and come by the JOST stand if you are at the IAA in Hanover.