tracing the history and/or ownership of these huge multinational combines can be bewildering, and Sachs is a good case: they were truely a multinational outfit, back when I was buying VW parts it was called Fichtel & Sachs and clearly was German for a century or more, but in the 20th century acquired holdings in France and other countries, shortened the name to Sachs Group, and were later acquired by the multinational Mannesmann Group (who made Oria tubing, amongst others). Since SRAM acquired the BICYCLE mfg. division of Sachs, SRAM itself has undergone acquisition drama, too (or at least its European division has, it's unclear). At the present, SRAM with HQs in 6 countries may or may not be "owned" by a FRENCH parent company, but SRAM owns Avid and Rockshox...no Shimano connection that I can trace...who knows for sure? Probably only the accountant does.