Hinduja Group’s commercial vehicle company Ashok Leyland has sold its automotive testing solutions unit Defiance Testing and Engineering Services (DTE) to UK-based Exova Group for an undisclosed amount, as per a stock market disclosure.
DTE, which was acquired by Ashok Leyland in 2007, is located near Detroit, the US. It provides testing and engineering services to manufacturers and leading suppliers in the passenger car, light truck, bus and military vehicle sectors. The firm's services, include component and system testing, fatigue and durability validation, system simulation and full vehicle structural testing.
It helped Ashok Leyland imbibe several new skills in testing and validation and thereby reduce new product development time and costs.
"It is reflective of Ashok Leyland's dynamic shift in strategic priorities aimed at enhancing the value of its business in the medium term," said V Sumantran, vice chairman of Ashok Leyland.
Ashok Leyland's separate entity focused on IT and engineering services named Defiance Technologies Ltd would remain unaffected even after this transaction.
"This move highlights our intention to further grow our global footprint through strategic acquisitions both in transportation and many other customer sectors that we serve from our facilities in 22 countries across the globe," said Ian El-Mokadem, CEO of Exova.
This acquisition will add five specialist testing facilities and 75 personnel to Exova’s existing network of over 3,500 experts and makes the company one of the leading providers of transportation testing services in North America.
Headquartered in Edinburgh, UK, Exova operates 111 permanent facilities in 22 countries and employs more than 3,500 people throughout Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Asia/Asia Pacific.
Exova Group was formerly known as Bodycote Testing Group Ltd and changed its name to Exova Group Ltd in 2009.
The firm is specialised in testing across a number of key sectors from food and pharmaceuticals to aerospace, transportation, oil and gas, fire, engineering and construction.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
