Schneider acquires local capacitor firm

French energy giant Schneider Electric, which wants to become a global leader in the low voltage (LV) capacitor market in the next few years, on Thursday announced the acquisition of Bangalore-based Meher Group, a major player in the domestic power factor correction (PFC) space.

Olivier Blum, country president of Schneider Electric in India, said the size of the 100% deal was close to Meher Group’s annual turnover, which was Rs 40 crore last fiscal.
The buyout will help Schneider establish its global manufacturing and R&D centre for the PFC business in Bangalore.

Blum said the company will begin exporting PFC capacitors and systems to some of countries it is present in, in the next three months. “I have Spain and Italy in mind,” he said.

He, however, did not specify whether India would be replacing any of Schneider’s other manufacturing centres around world.

Schneider will be adding capacity to meet the growing local and export demand for LV capacitors and PFC systems. Currently, Meher Group has an installed capacity of 10,000 megavars, but utilises only 5,000 megavars.

Mustafa Wajid, CEO of Meher Group, said, at present, his company was already exporting 10-15% of its production to the Middle East, Thailand and Malaysia.
Bernard Golstein, director - marketing and alliance, Schneider said in due course, close to 50% of his company’s total sales of PFC capacitors would be sourced from Indian factories. “We have chosen India not just for the cost advantage but also because of the technology that is available here. We will be designing and manufacturing new generation capacitors for overseas market from India,” he said.

Golstein said Schneider will grow the PFC business of Meher five times in the next four years, with nearly half of it in the export markets of Asia-Pacific, Middle-East, South America, and Europe.Buyout of Meher Group sets stage for bigger
play in power factor correction space