03-05-2014, 11:52 AM
Hero Motocorp Ltd
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INTRODUCTION
Hero Motocorp Ltd., formerly Hero Honda, is an Indian motorcycle and scooter manufacturer based in New Delhi, India. Hero Honda started in 1984 as a joint venture between Hero Cycles of India and Honda of Japan.[4] The company is the largest two wheeler manufacturer in India.[5] The 2006 Forbes 200 Most Respected companies list has Hero Honda Motors ranked at #108.[6]
In 2010, when Honda decided to move out of the joint venture,[7] Hero Group bought the shares held by Honda.[8] Subsequently, in August 2011 the company was renamed Hero MotoCorp with a new corporate identity.[9] On 4 June 2012,Hero Motocorp approved a proposal to merge the investment arm of its parent Hero Investment Pvt. Ltd. into the automaker. The decision comes after 18 months of its split from Honda Motors.[10]
Company profile
“Hero” is the brand name used by the Munjal brothers for their flagship company, Hero Cycles Ltd. A joint venture between the Hero Group and Honda Motor Company was established in 1984 as the Hero Honda Motors Limited at Dharuhera, India. Munjal family and Honda group both owned 26% stake in the Company. In 2010, it was reported that Honda planned to sell its stake in the venture to the Munjal family.
During the 1980s, the company introduced motorcycles that were popular in India for their fuel economy and low cost. A popular advertising campaign based on the slogan 'Fill it – Shut it – Forget it' that emphasised the motorcycle's fuel efficiency helped the company grow at a double-digit pace since inception. The technology in the bikes of Hero Honda for almost 26 years (1984–2010) has come from the Japanese counterpart Honda.[11]
Hero MotoCorp has three manufacturing facilities based at Dharuhera, Gurgaon in Haryana and at Haridwar in Uttarakhand. These plants together are capable of churning out 3 million bikes per year.[12] Hero MotoCorp has a large sales and service network with over 3,000 dealerships and service points across India. Hero Honda has a customer loyalty program since 2000,[13] called the Hero Honda Passport Program.
The company has a stated aim of achieving revenues of $10 billion and volumes of 10 million two-wheelers by 2016–17. This in conjunction with new countries where they can now market their two-wheelers following the disengagement from Honda. Hero MotoCorp hopes to achieve 10 per cent of their revenues from international markets, and they expected to launch sales in Nigeria by end-2011 or early-2012. In addition, to cope with the new demand over the coming half decade, the company was going to build their fourth factory in South India and their fifth factory in Western India. There is no confirmation where the factories would be built.[14]
Termination of Honda joint venture
In December 2010, the board of directors of the Hero Honda Group have decided to terminate the joint venture between Hero Group of India and Honda of Japan in a phased manner. The Hero Group would buy out the 26% stake of the Honda in JV Hero Honda.[15] Under the joint venture Hero Group could not export to international markets (except Sri Lanka and Nepal) and the termination would mean that Hero Group can now export. Since the beginning, the Hero Group relied on their Japanese partner Honda for the technology in their bikes. So there are concerns that the Hero Group might not be able to sustain the performance of the Joint Venture alone.[16][17]
The Japanese auto major will exit the joint venture through a series of offmarket transactions by giving the Munjal family—that held a 26% stake in the company—an additional 26%. Honda, which also has an independent fully owned twowheeler subsidiary—Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI)—will exit Hero Honda at a discount and get over $1 billion for its stake. The discount will be between 30% and 50% to the current value of Honda's stake as per the price of the stock after the market closed on Wednesday.[18]
The rising differences between the two partners gradually emerged as an irritant. Differences had been brewing for a few years before the split over a variety of issues, ranging from Honda's reluctance to fully and freely share technology with Hero (despite a 10-year technology tie-up that expires in 2014) as well as Indian partner's uneasiness over high royalty payouts to the Japanese company. Another major irritant for Honda was the refusal of Hero Honda (mainly managed by the Munjal family) to merge the company's spare parts business with Honda's new fully owned subsidiary Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI).[18]
As per the arrangement, it will be a two-leg deal. In the first part, the Munjal family, led by Brijmohan Lal Munjal group, will form an overseas-incorporated special purpose vehicle (SPV) to buy out Honda's entire stake, which will be backed by bridge loans. This SPV would eventually be thrown open for private equity participation and those in the fray include Warburg Pincus, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), TPG, Bain Capital, and Carlyle Group.[19]
Acquisition of Eric Buell Racing
On 1 July, 2013, the company had announced that it has acquired a stake of 49.2% on Erik Buell Racing, a motorcycle sport company which produces street and racing motorcycles based in East Troy, Wisconsin, USA. It was reported that, the company has already made $10 million investment and the rest of the money is likely to be invested over the next nine months. The investment in EBR is being done through Hero MotoCorp’s newly-incorporated and wholly owned subsidiary i.e, Hero MotoCorp Limited.[26]