Bosch to hike stake in Mico to 80 per cent

27 April 2007

Mumbai: German engineering major Robert Bosch GmbH has made an open offer to buy 20 per cent more in Motor Industries Co. Ltd (Mico) at Rs 4,000 (72 euros) a share.

The offer price is a 16.8 per cent premium to Motor Industries'' Thursday closing price of Rs 3, 424.80 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Bosch, which already owns 60.55 per cent in Mico, now seeks to raise that stake further "to create a more attractive platform for sharing of technology and realising operational synergies through closer cooperation and alignment between the organisations," the company said in an advertisement.

''We want to increase our share in Mico to approximately 80 percent in order to further strengthen our long-term commitment to the Indian market,'' chief executive Franz Fehrenbach said.

The offer opens on June 20 and will close on July 9.

Bosch, the world''s leading auto part company, has been active on the Indian market for 80 years and has made the Indian and Chinese markets a priority in the years ahead.