Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Germany's MAN to be 50:50 partner in Force Motors JV


Force Motors Ltd today announced that it would sell up to 14.50 per cent stake in its auto components joint venture with German truckmaker MAN for about 3 bn rupees, sending the former's shares up.MAN would acquire additional equity in the joint venture to increase its stake to 50 percent, via a rights issue for up to 2.5 bn rupees.

Force Motors currently holds 70 percent stake in the JV, MAN Force Trucks Pvt Ltd, while the German firm holds the rest.The joint venture would start designing and make trucks and bus chassis over the next few months to widen its footprint in the Indian market.

Force Motors will reduce its stake in the heavy commercial vehicle joint venture with MAN Nutzfahrzeuge to 50% from the current 70%.Force will sell 14.2% stake to MAN for Rs 300 crore. Later, MAN will infuse Euro 40 million (around Rs 250 crore) in the JV through subscription of a rights issue. Force will refrain from subscribing to the issue. As a result, MAN’s stake will go up to 50% from the current 30%.

The transaction, which is to be completed over the next few weeks, will peg the enterprise value of the JV at Rs 2,000 crore. Both the parties have signed the deal on Tuesday in Munich.

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