Automotive component manufacturer and supplier Sigma Group has made a strategic exit from its joint venture companies — Sigma Freudenberg NOK (SFN) and Sigma Vibracoustic India Limited (SVIL) — with the last tranche of the staggered sale of its shares for a total of Rs 1,350 crore.
After the share sale, Sigma Group has ceded control of the joint venture companies’ four manufacturing facilities in and around Chandigarh to its former partners. A person in know of developments told ET, finance was never a motivation for the share sale and the partners arrived at the agreement to pursue individual business interests in the Indian market.
The planned exit process started in 2013 with the sale of Sigma Group’s shares in SVIL. The process concluded last month with the sale of shares in SFN. Sigma Group Chairman Jagdip Singh and other representative members have since resigned from the managing board of the joint venture companies.
Sigma Vibracoustic India Limited (SVIL) — a 50:50 joint venture between Sigma Group and Vibracoustic of Germany — was established in 1998. The company went on to become a leading supplier and exporter of automotive vibration control products in the country and counted among its clients Mercedes Benz, VW, Porsche and Audi, GM and Ford.
After the success of this joint venture, SIGMA formed a second 50:50 JV with Freudenberg-Germany, and NOK-Japan to produce automotive and industrial oil seals called Sigma-Freudenberg-NOK. SFN supplied oil seals, Orings and gaskets to the domestic passenger vehicles manufacturers. SFN also supplied components for construction, power and agricultural segments.
