Standard Chartered Private Equity (SCPE) has invested Rs 85 crore ($15.5 million) for a minority stake in Craftsman Automation Private Limited (CAPL), a multi-product light engineering company based out of Coimbatore.
VCCircle was the first to report that the auto component manufacturer is in talks with private equity investors to raise Rs 85-100 crore.
Craftsman Automation, a diversified light engineering company, manufactures complex precision engineered machined components, industrial gear boxes, sheet metal parts and assemblies for automotive and industrial customers worldwide. Apart from the six plants located in India, CAPL services has customers from the US, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden and Netherlands, said the bank. International Finance Corporation is an existing investor in CAPL.
CAPL has a customer base of leading players like General Electric, Daimler, Mitsubishi, Caterpillar, Siemens, M&M, Tata Cummins and Tata Motors.
The company’s subsidiaries include Craftsman Marine in Netherlands for marketing CAPL’s industrial application products in the marine segment via distributors in over 40 countries and Craftsman Singapore for strategic sourcing in the Asian region.
Additionally, CAPL is further poised to expand its foot print via its two joint ventures - with Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan for industrial machinery and Carl Stahl of Germany for material handling.
As part of the SCPE investment, Namit Arora, director, Standard Chartered Private Equity has joined the company’s board.
Rahul Raisurana, managing director, Standard Chartered Private Equity, said, "The machining of critical components and precision manufacturing of engineered products and related spaces present solid growth prospects. We have found Craftsman Automation to be the right partner because of its superior engineering and design capabilities and focus on product quality, a key differentiator for the company."
Spark Capital acted as the transaction advisor for Craftsman Automation.
(Edited by Prem Udayabhanu)