Buying Rhythm and entering transport equipment (2007)

Adjacent technology, or a different industry?

What THK acquired here was automotive-parts revenue and the losses attached to it. Against a purchase price of $106.9M (¥13bn), goodwill stood at $114.7M (¥14bn) — on the balance sheet it had bought almost no net assets. The technical affinity, that ball circulation could be applied to spherical guides, held up as an argument; but what the shop floor of mass-produced parts demanded was a different competence altogether, the grinding of unit cost and yield to the last yen. Technologies being adjacent and businesses being adjacent are not the same thing.

The dependence on the Nissan group that President Teramachi Akihiro flagged at the time of the acquisition did thin out as the customer base widened. But transport equipment ran an operating loss from its first year, and the margin gap against industrial equipment never closed. In February 2026, with ROE above 10% as its goal, THK resolved to transfer TRA Holdings and the four European and North American companies. The business bought as a second pillar will pass, holding company and all, to an investment fund nineteen years later.