Titagarh Wagons Ltd will invest around 15 million euros to acquire the assets of French rail wagon maker IGF Industries-Arbel Fauvet Rail (AFR), in its first overseas acquisition.

"Titagarh Wagons Ltd (TWL) has won the bid for acquisition of the assets of IGF Industries - Arbel Fauvet Rail (AFR), a leading European rail wagon maker," a company filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) said.

"The company made the acquisition on 7 July, through the court process. This is the first ever overseas acquisition by TWL and first of its kind in this sector," the filing said.

AFR is located in Douai, in northern France, considered a hub of Europe's railway industry. The company undertakes design, engineering and manufacture of tank cars, containers, bogies and wagons.

The acquisition will lift TWL's wagon manufacturing capacity by an additional 5,000 wagons per year, besides giving access to the French company's proprietary technology and potential to tap the market for renewal of European rolling stock due in the near future, the company said.

"This acquisition is expected to have positive implications for our cost, technology and management competitiveness as we evolve from an Indian to a global player. This will help us in tapping not only the European market but global market as well. AFR has large number of patented designs of specialised wagons, which will help the group to gain a leadership position in India," JP Chowdhary, chairman of Titagarh Wagons, said.

TWL, promoted by JP Chowdhary and Umesh Chowdhary and based in Kolkata is one of the leading private sector manufacturers of railway wagons, bailey bridges, earth moving and mining equipments, steel and SG iron castings of moderate to complex configuration etc.

It also manufactures products for the Indian defence establishment, such as special wagons, shelters and other engineering equipments as an 'industry partner' to the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Titagarh Wagons Limited aspires to be a leader in the manufacture of heavy engineering equipment and a world-class service provider for the infrastructure sector.

It had revenues of Rs554 crore and net profit of Rs65 crore for the financial year ending 1 March and a market capitalisation of Rs700 crore as of date.

The company also recently acquired a 50 per cent stake in CIMMCO Ltd, an SK Birla venture engaged in the manufacture of rail coaches.

Axis Bank was the exclusive financial advisor to Titagarh Wagons Ltd on its successful bid for acquiring the assets of IGF Industries - Arbel Fauvet Rail.

"This is a landmark deal for Titagarh Wagons and this will spearhead the technology transfer in the Indian rail infrastructure sector," said Samita Shah, head of investment banking of Axis Bank

TWL hopes to tap the increasing demand for railway wagons in the country with the rapid expansion of rail and metro network in the country.

Riding on the success story of the Delhi Metro, the government is planning to develop similar metro systems at Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bangalore and also upgrade the present metro systems at both Delhi and Kolkata.