Videocon acquires Daewoo Electronics

Mumbai: Videocon Industries has acquired South Korea's Daewoo Electronics in a deal worth around $700 million (around Rs3,220 crore). Videocon, which has signed the agreement, however, declined to give details of the deal.

Aurangabad-based Videocon jointly with US-based equity fund Ripplewood had bid for acquiring a 97.5 per cent stake in Daewoo Electronics. The consortium is 50.1 per cent owned by Videocon and the rest held by Ripplewood.

Daewoo, South Korea's third largest electronics group, is now in the seventh year of a recovery programme. Creditors have put the debt-ridden Daewoo on the block for recovery of loans.

Reports quoted Daewoo president Lee Seung-Chng as saying that the company was desperately in need for investment in technology development and was actively pushing for a merger or acquisition.

The deal is Videocon's third acquisition in one year. Videocon had acquired Thompson's global picture tube business for €240 million and the loss-making Electrolux Kelvinator India, subsidiary of AB Electrolux, Sweden, earlier this year.

Videocon had taken over Electrolux Kelvinator India in a cashless transaction, wherein AB Electrolux agreed to subscribe to Videocon's GDR worth about Rs406 crore as part of the deal.