Areva, the French power major, on Friday said the proposed sale of its power transmission and distribution division world over will not lead changes in operations of its Indian arm - Areva T&D India, which will continue with its current market strategies.
Karim Vissandjee, chief financial officer, Areva T&D (global), told the Bombay Stock Exchange in a statement on Friday that the Indian arm will not include any separate sale and will be hived off along with the international division.
“The sale will not involve a separate and independent sale of Areva T&D India. The shares in Areva T&D India Ltd, currently held by Areva T&D, would be transferred directly to the new shareholder,” he said.
The statement said that the sale will not involve delisting of Areva T&D India and that the company will not be dismantled.
“Areva T&D will continue to follow its current market strategies in India and will comply with all regulations applicable to the Indian arm,” he said.
The sell-off rumours of Areva’s transmission and distribution arm hit the market in May when Joe Kaesar, CFO of Siemens, said the company would like to buy out Areva’s T&D division in case the French company approaches it.
Since then, there were no major developments until recently when Areva T&D India, in response to media reports, informed the BSE on Wednesday that the group’s supervisory board had decided it to put its T&D business on the block to finance the group’s long-term financial needs. Siemens and Alstom, are tipped to be the frontrunners to lap up Areva T&D, which has a turnover of 5 billion euros and 31,000 employees.
“The most logical choice of a buyer would be Siemens or Alstom, but some Chinese companies could also be in the reckoning,” said an analyst.
The Indian arm will be a strategic boost to whichever company buys the transmission division, as it has some big plans for India.
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