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Our Bureau

Mumbai, Oct. 20 Tata Motors has wrapped up its acquisition process of Spanish bus body builder Hispano Carrocera.

The company had picked up 21 per cent in Hispano in 2005 and has now exercised the call option to buy out the balance 79 per cent stake from Investalia S.A of Spain. Tata Motors had then paid €12 million for equity, debt and technology licensing. It also got the brand rights from Hispano.

As for the present buyout cost for the 79 per cent stake, company sources said it was “nothing substantial and much less than €12 million”. Hispano is a specialised coach builder with two manufacturing facilities – Zaragoza in Spain and Casablanca in Morocco – which have a capacity to make 600 units. The company specialises in luxury coaches.

Tata Motors’ intercity luxury coaches with Hispano design and technology are built at the Automobile Corporation of Goa (ACGL) plant. “With the Marcopolo joint venture and Hispano acquisition, the company now has a complete range of buses,” the spokesperson said. Tatas have a 43 per cent stake in ACGL.

The Marcopolo plant in Dharwar, Karnataka, rolls out fully-built buses while the ACGL facility focuses on bus body building. The Hispano buses cater to the high-end intercity luxury coach segment and the Marcopolo range is intended for the mass market which means high volumes.

With the new bus body building code in place, vehicle makers are attempting to do away with vendors. Unlike the earlier practice of confining themselves to making chassis and entrusting coach building to third parties, bus-makers are now looking at greater control over body building or making coaches on their own.

More Stories on : Mergers & Acquisitions | HCV/LCV/Tractors | Tata Motors Ltd

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