It is the second acquisition in three months and the fourth in two years. Pune-based world’s second largest forging company Bharat Forge Ltd has this time bought Swedish firm Imatra Kilsta AB and its wholly-owned subsidiary Scottish Stampings Ltd of Scotland — jointly called Imatra Forging Group — in an all-cash deal.The acquisition has been done through a 100 per cent-owned special purpose vehicle (SPV) and comes into force with immediate effect. Though there were speculations that the deal size was estimated to be around 50 million euros, the company refused to comment. ‘‘We have a non-disclosure agreement and I do not want to comment anything on it,’’ Bharat Forge executive director Amit Kalyani said.Imatra Forging Group is one of the world’s leading forging groups, the largest manufacturer of front axle beams and the second largest crankshaft producer in Europe.The acquisition would help Bharat Forge strengthen its presence in the European commercial vehicle, diesel engine and passenger car segment. The Imatra group companies had a total forging capacity of 100,000 tonne per annum across two plants. The company had posted an annual turnover of one billion Swedish kroners ($132 million) in 2004 and had close to 600 employees.‘‘The acquisition is a good fit. We will increase the level of business with their customers and continue manufacturing all the products from both the locations — Karlskoga in Sweden and Ayr in Scotland,’’ Kalyani said.
