Haldensleben, December 8, 2025 – Munich-based industrial group AEQUITA has sold drive shaft and joint manufacturer IFA to Neapco, a leading global supplier of driveline solutions. The acquisition creates a significant player in the field of driveline systems, with more than 5,000 employees and sales approaching US $2 billion. The newly integrated company, with resources to serve all strategically relevant markets in the future, will provide its customers with an expanded technology and product portfolio and an even broader range of driveline technologies for combustion, hybrid and electric vehicles.
Ken Hopkins, President and CEO of Neapco, says: “We look forward to working with the driveline specialists from the long-established IFA brand. Together, we will leverage our expertise, innovative strength, and global presence to further expand our market position and shape a successful future for us all. Most importantly, we will be able to even better serve our global customers with superior designs, quality, delivery and service they have come to expect from Neapco. We warmly welcome all IFA Group employees to our team.”
“By joining the Neapco Group, IFA has the best chance of long-term success in an extremely volatile and competitive environment,” according to IFA Managing Director Jan-C. Maser. “The fact that we have gained such a strong and well respected owner in Neapco is the best proof that the work we have done over the past few years has paid off,” adds his fellow Managing Director Stefan Bultmann.
Acquisition as a result of successful transformation
The Munich-based industrial group AEQUITA acquired IFA in mid-2022. Over the following three years, the long-established specialist in the development and manufacturing of propeller shafts, half shafts, and joints, with production sites in Germany, Poland, the USA, and China, underwent a comprehensive realignment. Key elements of the transformation program included the introduction of innovative manufacturing technologies and product designs in the field of side shafts and a comprehensive modernization and restructuring of all production sites in Asia, Europe, and North America. “The technological and organizational development has significantly improved IFA's global competitiveness,” says Robert Roiger, partner at AEQUITA and member of the IFA advisory board.
During this period, the company won its first major contract in the field of electromobility and acquired promising new customers. “We are proud that we have been able to navigate this sometimes rocky road successfully under the current difficult conditions,” says Christoph Himmel, Managing Partner at AEQUITA.
About Neapco:
Neapco, founded in 1921, is a leading provider of innovative driveline solutions for the automotive industry. Based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, the company develops, manufactures, and distributes high-quality OEM and aftermarket driveline products for passenger cars, trucks, agricultural, and industrial applications. All products are designed and manufactured in state-of-the-art facilities in North America, Europe, and Asia. The company has over 3,300 team members at 13 locations worldwide.
About the IFA Group:
The IFA Group develops and manufactures drive shafts and joints for the automotive industry. The original company, IFA-Gelenkwelle, was formed in 1959 from a merger of three nationalized mechanical engineering companies in Haldensleben, Saxony-Anhalt. Today, the automotive supplier has around 2,000 employees at seven locations in Germany, USA, China, and Poland, and is one of the leading suppliers to the automotive industry.