Comments
MAN Truck and Bus AG of Germany is buying out its Pune-based joint venture partner Force Motors, in the venture that makes trucks and buses, for about Rs 950 crore ( €150 million). The joint venture, founded in 2006, makes heavy trucks for the domestic and export markets.
In a press release on its Web site, MAN Truck has said that this investment underlined the significance of the Indian market in the context of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) strategy.
Share transfer
In an announcement to the BSE on Monday, Force Motors has said it will sell and transfer 55,797,100 equity shares of Man Force Trucks Pvt Ltd (MFTPL) to MAN, for €150 million, and reorganise the equity shareholding.
A press release on MAN Truck's web site says, “MAN Truck & Bus is taking over the Indian joint venture MAN Force Trucks Pvt. Ltd. This has been agreed by the two joint venture partners, FORCE Motors Ltd and MAN Truck & Bus as the date of today.
“Subject to the receipt of the necessary approvals, it is envisaged to close the transaction before the end of the year.”
Formed in April 2006, MFTPL was a 30:70 joint venture between MAN and Force, with MAN investing €150 million.
In December 2008, it had increased its stake to 50 per cent, by buying out, amongst others, 14.2 per cent of Force Motors' equity holding for €49 million.
Organisation structure
Dr Abhay Firodia, Chairman, Force Motors, said that discussions on changing the nature of the JV have been under way for a long time.
“It was finalised today,” he said, adding that the organisational structure of two MDs for MFTPL (one from each JV partner) will continue till the deal, subject to regulatory approvals, is consummated and actual transfer of shares takes place.
Current production
The joint venture company produces heavy MAN trucks of the CLA type for the Indian market and for export to countries in Asia and Africa. According to Mr Stefan Straub, Munich-based spokesman for Man Trucks, the current production in India stands at 4,000 trucks annually.
Though buses were part of the original product portfolio, they were not launched by the JV.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.