REpower is one of Germany's leading manufacturers of wind turbines, with a 10-per cent share of the overall market.

Both Suzlon and Areva had made competing bids for REpower and acquired significant stakes in it, but Suzlon's higher €1.2 billion offer was recommended by REpower's board, leaving it in a strong position.

Areva, which had acquired a 30-per cent stake in REpower, conceded defeat and in a statement said it was "very unlikely" that it would be able to acquire sufficient shares to gain control of the business and therefore it would withdraw.

Suzlon's had acquired the German firm for €150 per share. Suzlon said it now effectively controlled 60 per cent of the firm's shares, although some shareholders have yet to decide whether to accept its offer.

Contested takeover battles are rare in Germany and Suzlon's determined bidding and final victory, which may have reflected Indian companies' growing emergence as powerful global players, may also have led to fears of jobs being transferred to India.

In an attempt to counter such fears of jobs being eliminated in Germany, Suzlon pledged to build a global wind technology centre in Hamburg in its bid. Moreover, Suzlon also said it was committed to developing REpower's offshore wind business in Europe.

With this gambit, it pre empted any attempt by its French rival to whip up pan-European sympathy in its favour.

Tulsi Tanti, chairman, Suzlon Energy has termed the acquisition of REpower as a significant victory for his company. He said that via this acquisition, Suzlon would accelerate its European growth and technology advancement programmes.

However, Areva is not entitrely on the backfoot over losing REpower, which it had hoped to acquire in its bid to counter the saturation in its nuclear energy markets by diversifying in to an emerging alternate power sector. It will be the preferred electricity distribution and transmission company for Suzlon in Europe.

Suzlon now controls 60-per cent through direct and indirect holding in REpower. He said that 38 per cent shares are available in the market, of which Suzlon expects to get 10 per cent to 15 per cent.

Post-acquisition, Suzlon will run the management, he added.

The company has currently invested €100 million for the acquisition and needs between another €100 to €150 million, Tanti said. The total cash outflow, he says, would not exceed €250 million. In spite of the REpower acquisition, Suzlon's debt-equity will not change.

REpower's 2008 revenues are expected at €950 million. Suzlon will pay Areva after one-year and its bidding partner, the Portuguese energy firm Martifier, after two-years. Martifier owns an approximately 25-per cent stake in REpower.

Suzlon, which is building the wind farm for Reliance, has just signed its single biggest contract to supply wind turbine capacity. The contract is for supplying 400MW of turbine capacity to the US-based PPM Energy of Portland, Oregon.

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen what shape the proposed Essar-REpower joint venture to produce wind-turbines near Hazira in Gujarat will take. Last year, Essar and REpower had entered into a license agreement to build a plant to manufacture 1.5 MW to 2 MW wind turbines for the the South and South East Asian markets.

This plant was to be have been ready in 2007, but according had come to a standstill in the wake of the Suzlon-Areva bidding war.