Daily Chennai - Tamilnadu, India

German conglomerate Siemens has acquired 77% stake in Chennai-based iMetrex technologies for an undisclosed sum. As per the deal, Siemens will have the option of acquiring balance stake in the next five years.

The acquired firm will have a combined market share of 22%, making them leaders in the highly fragmented security and building technology solutions market.

iMetrex, a provider of products and solutions in the areas of electronic security, safety and building automation systems, will be integrated with Siemens’ Building Technologies business (SBT) and the acquired firm will be called Siemens Business Technologies.

The new company, a subsidiary of Siemens Ltd will be headed by the present executive chairman of iMetrex, Anand Mecheri. It will begin operation next month. As part of the deal, Siemens will also acquire the iMetrex owned manufacturing unit in Pondicherry and its R&D center in Chennai. The Pondicherry unit, manufacturing electronic and security equipment contributes 25% to the company’s turnover.

Johannes Milde, group executive vice-president, Siemens, stated, “In India, our market share in the fire safety segment is 12% and 25% in building automation solutions. We, however have a market share of only 2% in the security solutions division. Therefore, this acquisition will help expand our presence in the emerging markets at a low cost.”

He added that Siemens offered very high-end product range, more suited for the American and European markets. However, iMetrex would change that portfolio with low-cost products targeted at Asian markets, particularly India and China.

The Rs 160 crore iMetrex hopes to leverage on Siemens’ resources to expand its presence, globally. The company, formed in 2005, has operations in Ireland, UK, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Anand Mecheri, executive chairman of iMetrex Technologies stated, “We have good technology-driven products that need a wide global market. So we felt that Siemens, with its organizational structure and ethics was the most suitable partner for this venture. Also, we’ll be able to combine our strengths in the security and automated solutions segments to emerge as the market leaders in India.”

The Siemens-iMetrex combine has a headcount of about 800 amd it is expected to grow on the back of expanding business. Total size of the security solutions market is estimated to be 13 billion rupees. Siemens’ other plans include the setting up 2 factories in Mumbai for motors and transformers. Both are Greenfield projects, with the power plant slated to begin in July. 
 
Source:indiatimes

Categories: Business