One of the most diversified Indian engineering company Greaves Cotton Ltd is reportedly acquiring a majority stake in electric two-wheeler manufacturer Ampere Vehicles.
Following the deal, Greaves Cotton which is based in Mumbai will be acquiring 67% of Ratan Tata-backed Ampere for Rs 77 crore. Furthermore, according to company’s statements, Greaves may also buy out another 13% of the Coimbatore-based company for Rs 75.5 crore after three years.
The first part of the deal is expected to be closed by the end of December, subject to customary closing conditions. This deal will value the ten year old electric maker Ampere at Rs 115 crore.
With this acquisition, Greaves is planning to boost up its product and technology development process especially for last mile mobility in the electric vehicle space.
Nagesh Basavanhalli, MD & CEO, Greaves Cotton, said, “With this strategic acquisition we will be able to address a wider range of customer segments with clean energy mobility solutions.”
Ampere was founded in 2008 by Hemalatha Annamalai and the company is basically into design, development, manufacturing and marketing battery-operated electric vehicles. The vehicles that the firm produces include electric cycles, electric three-wheelers, electric two-wheelers and also custom built electric vehicles. Ampere counts Tata Sons chairman emeritus Ratan Tata and Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan among its investors.
Talking about its operations, the company operates through its plants located in Coimbatore, and has an employee base of 107. Two plants’ production capacity is 60,000 units per annum. During the last three years, the firm has sold more than 20,000 electric vehicles.
Greaves Cotton has been taking up various steps towards experimenting with electric vehicle technology since the last few years and with this deal, it is gearing up to boost up and accelerate its growth.