The joint venture, 51% owned by GAUSSIN and 49% by MACNICA Inc, will take over the assets of NAVYA, a leading French company that specialises in the supply of autonomous mobility systems. This, said GAUSSIN and MACNICA in a joint statement, is “in accordance with the decision of the Lyon Commercial Court issued on Tuesday, 18 April 2023”.

NAVYA was listed on the French stock exchange and got into financial difficulties last year. In mid 2022, it secured a €36M financing agreement with the Negma Group, an investment company based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. In December 2022, NAVYA announced to the market that it had taken out a €30M loan from Bahrain-based Eshaq Investment Company W.L.L, only to then issue a statement claiming the announcement had been released in error by its PR company. NAVYA said the loan never should have been announced as it was investigating the financing deal terms, which were subsequently found to be “part of an attempted fraud because they do not comply with international tax rules”.

After the deal collapsed, NAVYA filed for creditor protection in the form of receivership proceedings in Lyon in January when it was unable to meet its current liabilities. Gaussin acquired NAVYA following a court-ordered judicial sale of its tangible and intangible assets for a price of €1.4M, and its subsequent delisting from Euronext.

Based in France, the new joint venture will be chaired by Christophe Gaussin, CEO of GAUSSIN, while Jean-Claude Bailly, until now executive vice president of GAUSSIN, will become the CEO of the new company.

The joint venture will be jointly managed by GAUSSIN and MACNICA with an equal representation on the board of directors. “This acquisition allows the safeguarding of 143 jobs in France and six in Singapore – that is, 70% of NAVYA’s current workforce. In addition, other employees will be offered redeployment to join GAUSSIN’s production site in Saint-Vallier, France, as part of its recruitment plan,” the statement continued.

“NAVYA’s main asset is the expertise of its employees, including the 120 engineers who are developing a level 4 autonomous driving software suite that is unique in the world. Since 2015, NAVYA has been the first company to commission autonomous mobility solutions for passenger transport and has a range perfectly suited to short-distance mobility such as the ARMA and EVO shuttles but also the BlueBus 6m shuttle in collaboration with Bolloré. More than 200 units have been sold in 25 countries. The Autonom Tract tractor is designed to transport goods. The synergies with GAUSSIN’s logistics and port activities are extremely important and should accelerate the development of autonomous carbon-free mobility.”

The acquisition of the assets represents an amount of €1.5M, including €1.4M in asset value, to which is added €15M of financing for activity over the first 12 months of the integration process. Two thirds will be paid by MACNICA and one third by GAUSSIN. The new joint venture is aiming at a turnover of €23M from the first year, mainly from exports.

MACNICA, NAVYA’s distributor and investor, is a technology giant specialising in semiconductors, network products, cyber security and AI/IoT and mobility, as well as pioneering innovative solutions through its expertise in cyber physical systems, such as smart city, smart factory and autonomous mobility. It employs nearly 4,000 people with over 1,000 engineers in 24 countries and has 2022 revenues of more than €7B.

“MACNICA’s substantial investment in the acquisition of NAVYA provides the new joint venture with the necessary resources to achieve its objectives and bring world-class autonomous solutions to its customers worldwide,” the two parties stated.

For its part, GAUSSIN will transfer its autonomous driving team to this new joint venture and acquire NAVYA’s autonomous driving kit in order to expand its offering and provide turnkey solutions for large-scale deployments of its own autonomous vehicles.

The new joint venture will focus on four key markets – logistics, ports, airports and public and private passenger transport – where GAUSSIN and MACNICA already have established positions. It will be divided into two business units, each with dedicated teams.

The first team will offer complete solutions for the autonomous movement of containers, trailers and luggage. Its technology will be integrated in GAUSSIN’s existing electric vehicles and in third-party platforms.

The second team will provide sustainable and innovative solutions for people mobility, addressing underserved market segments. It is claimed that the company’s autonomous mobility software, currently in the final integration stage on the state-of-the-art Bluebus IT3 platform, will ‘revolutionise’ the passenger mobility experience.

“The complementary nature of GAUSSIN, NAVYA and MACNICA opens up new areas of growth for this new entity,” the statement continued. “In addition to the development of the latest generation of autonomous shuttles, Navya’s autonomous driving technology will be able to be integrated into the platforms developed by GAUSSIN for the logistics and port sectors, where sales are growing rapidly with a strong demand for autonomous mobility.

“Thus, GAUSSIN and MACNICA have projected a turnover for the new joint venture of €38M in 2024 and €120M in 2025. Indeed, from 2025, it will be possible to integrate level 4 autonomous driving software on a large scale on GAUSSIN vehicles, both port and logistics vehicles. The integration of NAVYA technology will result in a move upmarket for the group’s vehicles.

“The new management also intends, from the start of the joint venture, to optimise the contracts previously signed by NAVYA in order to bring the accounts back into balance by concentrating on highly profitable projects.”

Christophe Gaussin, CEO of GAUSSIN, commented: “The acquisition of NAVYA’s assets is a great source of pride. Most of the jobs have been preserved and the talented team, transferred to a new company based in France, will continue its missions. This is a clear demonstration of the resilience of the ‘Made in France’ model, in which we believe.

“The skills, technology and expertise will remain here in our territories. We have confidence in our country and its ability to attract the best talent and support companies in their development. With the new joint venture created with our partner MACNICA, we are ready to support our existing customers worldwide in their green and automation transition, leveraging a large number of experts capable of deploying autonomous solutions simultaneously in various regional or global operations.

“This acquisition demonstrates our commitment to driving progress and innovation in the transportation industry and providing our customers with the best possible solutions to meet their evolving needs. We are pleased to be part of this new venture and look forward to working together to achieve our common goals.”

Jean-Claude Bailly, CEO of the joint venture between GAUSSIN and MACNICA, said: “Whatever difficulties NAVYA has gone through, its autonomous mobility technology and engineering team are powerful assets, which the strategic alliance between GAUSSIN and MACNICA will be able to fully exploit, as together we have the technological mastery, commercial reach and financial means to impose ourselves on this market at a global level and bring NAVYA’s assets to fruition in the service of ever cleaner, smarter and autonomous mobility.”

Atsushi Sato, General Manager, Strategic Innovation Business Group of MACNICA, added: “Coming from the experience of working with NAVYA since 2020, we have confirmed that NAVYA provides the best autonomous solution on the road with its shuttles.

“With our partner GAUSSIN, we will extend NAVYA’s software, implementation, and operations expertise in autonomous mobility into off-road vehicles. Together with GAUSSIN, we will provide the new entity with the technology, capital, and global market coverage for sustainable and exponential growth into the next level.”

Olivier Le Cornec, CEO of NAVYA, said: “The acquisition of NAVYA by the joint venture created by GAUSSIN and MACNICA not only extends the technological expertise, but also allows us to keep more than 70% of its talent. MACNICA, as a major player in semiconductors, and GAUSSIN as a leader in French industrial logistics, are perfectly positioned to ensure the international development and new commercial applications of our autonomous mobility systems.”