India’s Hinduja Group is apparently still interested in acquiring a majority stake in Valeo.
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Hinduja Group’s Global President G P Hinduja told the Press Trust of India: “We were interestingly looking into Valeo. Our senior experts had gone there and they are still evaluating.” He declined to talk about the financial details of the deal that is reported to be in the region of USD1.5bn.
“If we find that it has a synergy and it is a value addition to Ashok Leyland, we will go for it, otherwise no,” he added.
When asked whether the group is looking to acquire a majority stake in Valeo, Hinduja said, “Without that (51 per cent stake), we are not going anywhere.”
Besides pursuing for Valeo, Hinduja said Ashok Leyland is developing two projects — one bus body building unit in Ras Al Khaimah (UAE) and the other in Dubai for special purpose vehicles.
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By GlobalDataThe company is expecting to commission the Ras Al Khaimah project by August this year, Hinduja said.
Speaking about the Dubai project, Hinduja said, “The Dubai project is at a very early stage and the feasibility report is going on. I think the project will be taking off from the month of July.” Reiterating its commitment in the heavy commercial vehicle segment, he said: “We have not been in the light commercial vehicle even. So, we have signed a joint venture with Nissan and the plant is going to be in Chennai.” The JV project with Nissan would be developed at a cost of Rs 4,000 crore, he added.
Ashok Leyland had formed three joint ventures with Japan-based Nissan Motors to strengthen its light commercial vehicle business. The three JVs would be vehicle manufacturing, powertrain manufacturing and technology development companies.
The JV would be responsible for developing, manufacturing and marketing of LCV products under both Ashok Leyland and Nissan brands.
Earlier in April, Valeo denied a media report that it was in talks with India’s Hinduja Group over the sale of a controlling stake in the company.
