Precious metals manufacturer and refiner Hindustan Platinum Pvt. Ltd is set to acquire Swiss engineering company ABB’s electrical contacts manufacturing plant in Humacao, Puerto Rico, which is a Caribbean island and unincorporated US territory.
In a statement, Hindustan Platinum said it was acquiring the plant for an undisclosed sum, and that it expects the deal to close by August.
Once the transaction is complete, the Humacao plant will be Hindustan Platinum’s second such manufacturing facility catering to the North American and Latin American markets, with the company already operating one in Navi Mumbai.
Hindustan Platinum executive vice-president Ashish S Choksi said the move was a strategic step to enhance the geographical footprint and customer base.
Queries to Hindustan Platinum on financial details did not get a response till the time of publication. ABB declined to comment.
Founded in 1961, Hindustan Platinum provides various services related to precious metal management and recycling. Some of its products include stirrers, bushings, wires, foils, and sheets. The company says it has customers in over 50 countries.
ABB was established in 1988 after the merger of Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget (General Swedish Electrical Ltd Co.) and Brown, Boveri & Cie. On its website, the group says its core focus is on four businesses: Electrification, industrial automation, motion and robotics and discrete automation. The group operates in over 100 countries including India and says it has over 147,000 employees.
In December last year, VCCircle reported that ABB will sell a majority stake in its power grids’ division to Japan’s Hitachi and return the proceeds to shareholders, bowing to pressure from an activist investor to sell the business that makes transformers and converters.
The acquisition, which values the unit at $11 billion, will see Hitachi become one of the largest players in the power grid industry. For ABB, which also makes industrial robots, the deal offloads its least profitable division, allowing it to focus on automation.
