Schneider Electric to buy majority stake in APW for Rs62.2 crore

France-based Schneider Electric SA, which specialises in electricity and automation management, today agreed to buy 55-per cent of promoter's stake in APW President Systems for Rs62.2 crore (€10 million).

Mumbai-based APW designs, manufactures and supplies standard and customised enclosure systems in India and has been the market leader for over 27 years in 19-inch enclosures for IT and telecom infrastructure, systems management and operations.

The Bombay Stock Exchange-listed company has manufacturing facilities at Pune and Bangalore and has around 380 employees.  For the 12 months ending 30 September 2010, APW generated sales of Rs108 crore.

Schneider Electric said that it plans to acquire a maximum of 75 per cent of the share capital of the APW by acquiring a minimum of 55 per cent of the promoter stake, and follow it up by acquiring up to 20 per cent of the share capital of the company through a mandatory open offer.

The acquisition will position the French company to capture opportunities in the fast growing Indian IT infrastructure market as well as in international markets, particularly in Asia Pacific and Middle East.

''APW President Systems Ltd brings to us the expertise to customise racks and enclosures for our global data centre customer base. With this acquisition, Schneider Electric becomes a leading Indian player in integrated data centre infrastructure solutions and further accelerates its development in the domain of data centres,'' said Laurent Vernerey, executive vice-president of Schneider Electric's IT business.