Exide acquires second lead smelting unit

Kolkata, Jun 18 (UNI) Exide Industries Ltd, the largest lead acid storage battery major in South Asia, today announced acquisition of 51 per cent shareholding in Leadage Alloys India Ltd, a lead smelting company near Bangalore.

Earlier this month the company's board had approved a maximum investment of up to Rs 35 crore for the acquisition.

Having acquired Tandon Metals Ltd in October 2007, this was the second lead smelting unit in which Exide industries had taken a controlling interest.

Lead constitutes approximately 70 per cent of the material cost of a battery and its price has been extremely volatile in the past three years.

'' Our own lead smelting units will not only give us better self -sufficiency in this critical raw material in the long run, it will also help us have better control over recycling of used batteries that we buy back from the market as part of regulatory framework for storage battery manufacture, '' said company's Managing Director and CEO T V Ramanathan.

'' This investment in our own smelters is not just a backward integration project for Exide. It is part of our commitment to the environment, whereby we will have better control over disposal of used batteries and plastics, '' said Director automotive division P K Kotaky.

Chief Executive of leadage Alloys India Ltd T Arun Kumar was categorical that the new partnership would result in significant synergy for both parties given the fact that the entire cost efficient facilities of leadage could now be leveraged by Exide to meet its diverse lead and lead alloy requirements.

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