Hindustan Construction looks overseas to strengthen capacity
28 Sep 2010
Hindustan Construction Co is eyeing more acquisitions overseas as it looks to strengthen capabilities for taking on larger projects in the fast-growing Indian market, a senior company official said today.
The Mumbai-based construction firm acquired controlling stake in Swiss developer Karl Steiner AG earlier this year, and is now exploring acquisitions in Europe, the Middle East and South East Asia, with a deal size of around $100 million or more. (See: HCC gets regulatory nod to acquire 66 per cent in Karl Steiner)
"We are looking for companies into designing, into fabrication or into the areas where we have not done enough so far ... may be transmission towers or oil and gas pipelines," Group chief financial officer Praveen Sood said at the Reuters India Investment Summit in Mumbai.
HCC also wants to boost its presence in the roads sector and will bid for at least three to four national highway projects in the next six months, each worth between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, he said.
The road bids will be put jointly with partners that include Egypt's Orascom Construction Industries.
Earlier this week, the infrastructure major said it had got a Rs660-crore contract from GMR (Badrinath) Hydro Power Generation for setting up a 300 MW hydroelectric project in Uttarakhand.