Leyland may sell Nissan JV stake to shareholders

Leyland may sell Nissan JV stake to shareholders

Co Had Committed Rs 600Cr For LCV Biz

Mumbai: Hinduja flagship company Ashok Leyland is examining options to sell some of its stake in its joint venture with Nissan to its shareholders.
“We are examining the option of giving a stake in the Nissan joint venture to our shareholders,’’ Ashok Leyland CFO K Sridharan told reporters.
Last year, the company had entered into a joint venture with Nissan Motor to form three companies supporting the light commercial vehicle business.
Both the players would invest Rs 2,400 crore in the joint venture. The debt-equity ratio of Rs 2,400 crore would be 1:1. The equity of Rs 1,200 crore would be invested by both the players equally.
Of the Rs 600 crore that Ashok Leyland is going to invest, it may give a stake to its shareholders. Ashok Leyland is 51% owned by Hinduja Automotive.
For this financial year, the company has planned a capital expenditure of Rs 1,400 crore for capacity expansion.
“We would be investing Rs 3,000 crore in the next three years as capital expenditure,’’ Sridharan said.
Presently, its capacity is running at 100% producing 84,000 units. It wants to increase its capacity to 1,84,000 vehicles by 2010.
The company is setting up a facility in Ennore with a capacity for 50,000 engines and gear boxes. It is expected to be commissioned by October 2008.
“The Ennore capacity will also achieve 100% capacity once it is operational,’’ he said.
So the company is setting up another facility in Uttarkhand to make 50,000 modules, which should be commissioned by October 2009, he said. AGENCIES

Advt : Times of India
Date : 18/06/2008