Mumbai: The world's fourth-largest wind turbine maker, Suzlon Energy Ltd has agreed to acquire Portuguese conglomerate Martifer's 22.48-per cent stake in REpower Systems for €270 million ($396 million).

The acquisition, to be completed by 15 December, would take Suzlon's holding in REpower to around 90 per cent, the company said in a statement.

''The completion of the agreement will take Suzlon's stake in REpower to nearly 90 per cent and put both companies in a stronger position to derive synergy benefits from the collaboration,'' Suzlon chairman Tulsi Tanti said in the statement.

The company was reported to be considering offloading a part of its 33.85-per cent stake in the German firm, whose shares had gained 90 per cent  since its acquisition by Suzlon in May 2007 (See: Suzlon acquires wind turbine major Repower as Areva quits bidding)

However as it had been hard put to gain technology from REpower company as German law forbids any shareholder from having any special rights over information or technology.

It then opted to raise its stake to about 66 per cent by buying out French state-run Areva's 30-per cent holding in June.

In July suzlon chairman Tulsi Thanti acquired the Chinese alternative energy company Honiton Energy Holdings, through his  privately held company, Collossus, in a joint venture with Bahrain-based private equity giant Arcapita . (See:  Suzlon-Arcapita Bk JV to buy Honiton Energy)

Germany's biggest wind-turbine maker and one of the world's leading companies in the wind energy sector, REpower specialises in high-output turbine technology particularly for offshore turbines.

The acquisition of Martifer's  stake will give Suzlon voting rights of approximately 89 per cent subject to certain minority protection and other rights.

''This is an important step forward clearly demonstrating our unchanged long-term commitment towards the Repower,'' said Tanti.

Suzlon Energy Limited is the world's fifth leading wind turbine maker with a 10.5 per cent share of the global market for wind turbines.

The company has come to the fore of the business by strategically focusing on R&D, innovation, an integrated value chain, and entering into emerging and high growth markets to drive sustainable growth.

Suzlon, with its group management center in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, has corporate offices in Pune. The company has projects and markets across 21 countries, including Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, Denmark, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Portugal, Romania, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, The Netherlands, Turkey, the US, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.

Suzlon is a vertically integrated wind turbine manufacturer – with manufacturing capability along the full value chain – ranging from components to complete wind turbine systems. The company has established manufacturing facilities in India, China and the United States, to support the global spread of its operations.

The company currently has a combined manufacturing base of 2,700 MW of annual capacity, and is undertaking an aggressive expansion programme to expand its base to 5,700 MW of capacity in FY08-09.