Greaves Cotton today announced the completion of its acquisition of the entire shareholding of Hemalatha Annamalai in Ampere Vehicles Pvt Ltd through a secondary purchase. In the process it has taken absolute control of the company, which will now become its wholly-owned subsidiary. Greaves Cotton said Annamalai, the promoter the company, has exited.
This is part of Greaves’ long-term strategy to strengthen and expand its presence in the last-mile e-mobility space that is seeing significant interest from the government and commuters alike.
Greaves Cotton bought the remaining 18.77 per cent in Ampere for about Rs 60 crore, taking its total stake to 100 per cent.
In August 2018, Greaves Cotton acquired a majority stake in the company, holding 81.23 per cent.
Established in Coimbatore, Ampere designs, develops, manufactures and markets battery-operated electric vehicles for personal mobility and industrial applications and materials movement.
Promoted by Hemalatha Annamalai, Ampere has had investments from veteran industrialist Ratan Tata and Infosys Co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan. Both have since exited.
The company’s revenue which stood at Rs 7.1 crore in fiscal 2017, rose to Rs 53.6 crore in FY19.
“Our strategic acquisition of Ampere, one of the leading brands in the personal and last-mile e-mobility vehicle segment, is part of a larger vision to helm a renewable-energy revolution in the country. With Ampere’s acquisition, we are now well poised to become one of the fast-growing e2W player in the market.” said Nagesh Basavanhalli, MD and CEO, Greaves Cotton Limited.
Ampere Vehicles is now part of Greaves Cotton’s e-mobility division.
Over the last 10 months, Ampere vehicles have acquired a significant market share and the exclusive outlets selling its electric scooters have gone up from 75 to over 180. With this acquisition the network will expand to 350-plus outlets, including Greaves retail stores.
In the next phase of initiatives to make Ampere India’s most preferred EV brand, as part of Greaves’ company-wide push towards Make in India, the company will continue to innovate to achieve greater design efficiencies. It also seeks to build strategic partnerships to enable greater localisation of production, according to a Greaves Cotton release.
Source: Business-Standard