Suzlon acquires wind turbine major Repower as Areva quits bidding

25 May 2007

"We are delighted with the development. Given our arrangement with Areva we now, directly and through voting pool agreements, already control over 60 per cent of REpowers capital," Tulsi Tanti, chairman and managing director, Suzlon, said in a statement.

"With this acquisition Suzlon has emerged as a global player with strong footprint across all the key wind markets, a geographically diversified manufacturing base, turbine and component level R&D centres in Europe," Tanti said. "In the next one week we will also know how many shareholders have finally tendered into our offer," he added.

"Suzlon Energy and Areva have signed a binding agreement governing a framework regarding both the firms shareholding in REpower. With this the bidding contest between Suzlon and Areva comes to an end."

The bidding process for REpower started when Suzlon announced a competing public offer on 9 February.

Commenting on the cooperation agreement reached with Areva, Tanti said, Suzlon expects Areva to continue supporting the wind industry and growth of REpower. "We also expect to extend our relationship with Areva in areas of T&D where they have global leadership," Tanti added.

This would be a landmark transaction for several reasons but more importantly for the innovative financial structuring leading to material transaction cost savings for Suzlon, Yes Bank was the advisor to Suzlon on the transaction.