Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Jul 25, 2006
Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Jul 25, 2006 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Corporate
-
Mergers & Acquisitions Hindujas buy out Iveco's indirect stake in Ashok Leyland Our Bureau
Chennai , July 24 The Hinduja group has bought out the 15 per cent indirect stake of Iveco of Italy, a Fiat group company, in Ashok Leyland Ltd. This is consequent to the Hinduja group acquiring Iveco's 30 per cent holding in LRLIH Ltd of the UK, which had a 49.59 per cent stake in Ashok Leyland's equity. The Hinduja group held 70 per cent of LRLIH's equity and Iveco the balance. Mr G.P. Hinduja, Vice-Chairman, Hinduja group, told Business Line over telephone that it was "an amicable" settlement and the decision allowed both groups to independently pursue their respective "objectives and goals." A press release issued by the Hinduja group did not mention the amount paid by the Hindujas for acquiring Iveco's stake in LRLIH. Mr Hinduja too did not disclose the amount on the ground that it was part of the confidentiality clause.
Bright future for auto sector
The Hinduja group, Mr Hinduja said, believed that the automobile sector in India had a bright future and buying out Iveco's stake would enable Ashok Leyland's management to aggressively pursue growth opportunities. He was confident that Ashok Leyland's product development centre had the capability to develop new products, besides which the management was also open to "alliances and partnerships." Were any such in the offing? "A lot," is all that Mr Hinduja said and added that India was a low-cost production base and Ashok Leyland was best suited to tap the opportunities. LRLIH also has a 59 per cent stake in Ennore Foundries Ltd, which is putting up a 50,000 tonnes a year greenfield foundry plant to take its capacity to 125,000 tonnes. The release said the partnership between the Hinduja group and Iveco dated back to their 1987 acquisition of LRLIH. Then, LRLIH's holding in Ashok Leyland was 40 per cent, which went up to 51 per cent in 1994.
`Winning formula for global presence'
The release quoted Mr Hinduja as saying that the "combination of competitive manufacturing and design costs on the one hand and globally competitive quality and technology on the other is a winning formula for a successful global presence for an Indian auto and component manufacturer." Ashok Leyland, he said in the release, had a strong management team, which had been developing its technology needs internally for over a decade. The last technology support from Iveco was 12 years ago.
More Stories on : Mergers & Acquisitions | HCV/LCV/Tractors
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page
|
Stories in this Section |
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | The Hindu Images | Home |
Copyright © 2006, The
Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu Business Line
|