03-09-2014, 04:41 PM
M&M’s president (farm equipment sector) Anjanikumar Choudhari, who took charge as chairman over the weekend, told ET: “Swaraj has tremendous brand value in many northern markets and we are going to exploit it fully. M&M bagged the bid at about Rs 360 per share, and is acquiring about 43 per cent stake in the Chandigarh-based tractor firm for close to Rs 1,000 crore in an all-cash deal. The 43 per cent stake includes 29 per cent owned by private equity firm Actis and 14.2 per cent by the Delhi-based Burman family. It was the second largest tractor company a few years ago and we would be promoting Swaraj aggressively to regain its lost market share. Some price improvements in the product are also being planned, which would be followed by a publicity campaign. While both the tractor brands would exist independently, a synergy in production and other back-end operations has been planned. M&M would utilize the low-cost vendors of PTL for its own tractors and eventually have a common vendor base for both the products. “We are planning major capital investment for modernization a