M&M plans acquisitions in North America, Europe

New Delhi, Sept 6 (UNI) Auto major Mahindra&Mahindra (M&M) today said it is looking for acquisitions in forging, design and engineering software solutions in North America and Europe, and plans to set up its bases in China and Africa.

''We are in a process of acquiring technology in casting, forging and engineering services in North America and Europe,'' company's President (system and technology sector) Hemant Luthra told reporters on a sidelines of Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) conference here.

''We have done six-seven acquisition opportunities in the last 18 months, and you may see a couple of them in the current fiscal,'' The company is also planning to enter the Chinese market.

''We already have our marketing teams in Germany. We will source the products from there and market it through our own arm,'' he said.

The company is committed to touch a sales figure of one billion dollars by 2010, he said, adding that the challenge is to achieve a market capitalisation of one billion dollars from the current 600 million dollar mark.

The company's current sales stands at 800 million dollars.

The acquisitions will be done in order to add more value and to gain more market access, Mr Luthra added.

UNI