Electrical equipment maker Crompton Greaves Ltd said on Monday it will sell its business-to-business automation business to Saudi Arabia’s Alfanar for an enterprise value of 120 million euros ($133 million, or about Rs 886 crore).
The B2B automation business comprises ZIV Aplicaciones y Technologica SL of Spain, its subsidiaries and related business in the UK, Ireland, France and India, the company said in a stock-exchange filing.
The company has accepted the binding offer from Alfanar and will now hive off the business to a wholly owned unit to complete the deal by the end of January 2017.
Riyadh-based Alfanar has more than 22,000 employees and annual revenue of $2.5 billion. Its business includes manufacturing of electrical construction products and related engineering services.
The deal is part of efforts to cut debt and focus on the company’s core operations in India that will drive growth, Crompton Greaves said.
The company had earlier this year said it was looking to sell the B2B automation business when it agreed to sell its international power business to US private equity firm First Reserve International Ltd for an enterprise value of 115 million euros ($126 million).
Crompton Greaves is part of the Gautam Thapar-led Avantha Group, which has been consolidating its business over the past two years to cut debt and focus on its core businesses.
Last October, Crompton Greaves sold its power transformer business in Canada to PTI Holdings Corp for about C$20 million ($15.18 million then). Avantha has also sold an asset under the power generation arm to Adani Power.
Last year, Crompton Greaves decided to hive off its consumer appliance business into a separate listed firm. In a parallel deal, Avantha said it would sell its entire stake in that demerged business to PE firm Advent and Singapore government's investment arm Temasek.
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