Private equity major Warburg Pincus-backed Havells India Ltd, a lighting and electrical products manufacturer, has entered into a joint venture with China-based Shanghai Yaming Lighting Co. Ltd to set up a lighting products plant in China, the company has disclosed in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange today.
The 50:50 joint venture would be called Jiangsu Havells Sylvania Lighting Co and it would entail an investment of $50 million (Rs 268 crore) while targeting an annual turnover of $100 million (Rs 536 crore) in the next three years, the statement added.
Incorporated in 1923, Shanghai Yaming Lighting (formerly Ya Pu Er) manufactures lighting products and specialises in city & road lighting, as well as industrial, commercial, office & domestic lighting.
Under the deal, the partners will jointly set up a lighting products plant in China to cater to local (Chinese) and global markets. The JV will also enable quicker product release in international markets and increasingly focus on launching energy-efficient and green lightning solutions.
At 2:32 pm, Shares of Havells India were trading at Rs 399.10 a unit on the BSE, up 3.76 per cent from the previous close.
Incorporated in 1958, Noida-based Havells India manufactures and sells electrical and power distribution equipment for domestic, commercial and industrial segments in India and abroad. The company sells its products under various brand names, such as Crabtree, Sylvania, Concord, Luminance, Linolite and SLI Lighting.
Havells India Ltd is backed by Warburg Pincus, which holds nearly 14 per cent stake in the company, and Nalanda Capital Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based private equity firm that holds 2.95 per cent, as on Sept 30, 2011, according to BSE.
Havells had acquired Sylvania’s lighting business for $300 million four years ago, catapulting it at one shot as the world’s fourth largest manufacturer of lighting products. But the company faced grim prospects since its key European business had to bear the brunt of the economic slowdown in 2008 and debt from the transaction. However, the firm undertook a massive restructuring in the following year and recently turned around its overseas operations.
