Wipro acquires Sweden's Hydrauto Group AB

28 September 2006

Wipro Ltd has announced that the company has signed an agreement to acquire the entire equity of Sweden-based Hydrauto Group AB (Hydrauto) for $31 million, in an all cash deal. Subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, the acquisition is expected to be completed by 03 of FY 2006-07.

Wipro's subsidiary Wipro Infrastructure Engineering (WIN) made the acquisition, a leading provider of precision engineered Hydraulic components and solutions in India.

Hydrauto, a profitable entity with positive operating cash-flows, is a leading provider of hydraulic components and solutions in Europe. Hydrauto is a Tier 1 supplier to OEMs of material handling equipment, forestry equipment, construction and earth moving machinery amongst others. For the year ended December 31, 2005, its revenues were $112 million.

The acquisition brings in strong synergies for WIN, a Tier 1 supplier to OEMs of construction and earth moving machinery, material handling equipment, heavy and medium commercial vehicles amongst other industries, in India and rest of Asia. For the year ended March 31, 2006, WIN logged in revenues of $57 million.

Hydraulic components are a global $17-billion industry and catering to the construction equipment, material handling, farm and industrial segments. Growth in India is being driven by the huge investments in the infrastructure and industrial segments.

According to Anurag Behar, managing director, WIN, 'This acquisition gives WIN a unique Asia-Europe footprint, a customer base built over the past few decades and deep complementary engineering skills. Being together will have a multiplier effect on competitiveness."