TII hopes to double chain business

Tube Investments of India (TII), a group company of the $3-billion Murugappa group, hopes to double its industrial chains business to Rs 200 crore in the next three years, with the recent acquisition of Sedis of France.

The company had disclosed the acquisition cost to be Euro 9 million (around Rs 50 crore).

Speaking to Business Standard on the sidelines of a seminar on ‘investment opportunities in France’ here on Tuesday, L Ramkumar, managing director, Tube Investments of India, said, “this acquisition has given us access to the technology to make more special chains. Sedis has the designs and we can manufacture them at a cheaper cost here.”

TII acquired a controlling stake in 100-year-old Sedis group through the acquisition of 77 per cent equity of its holding company, Financiere C10. “Our total investment for 100 per cent acquisition was Euro 9 million (Rs 50 crore),” he said. The management would continue to hold the remaining shares in FC 10 and would be associated with the company for three years.

Earlier, addressing the seminar, Ramkumar said the company had lost business worth Euro 10-12 million (around Rs 59-60 crore) due to lack of technology. The acquisition also helped TII get access to new overseas markets, he said.

Sedis is a manufacturer of industrial and engineering-class chains in France and offers products covering a range of industries, including the high-growth infrastructure sector. The 30-million Euro company has 200 employees and two manufacturing facilities in Europe. The company has a market share of around 40-50 per cent in France, said Ramkumar. TII has three manufacturing facilities at Chennai, Hyderabad and Uttranchal.