Greaves Cotton hikes stake in Ampere Vehicles to 81 percent

Greaves Cotton, which is aggressively driving its electric mobility programme in India, has increased its stake by 14 percent in the Coimbatore-based Ampere Vehicles, taking its total ownership to 81.23 percent. This follows the company acquiring 2,573,529 equity shares in its subsidiary Ampere Vehicles through primary and secondary purchase for a total consideration of Rs 38.49 crore.

The investment follows the acquisition of Ampere Vehicles in October 2018 with 67.34 percent stake for Rs 77 crore. Till now, Greaves Cotton's total investment in Ampere Vehicles is Rs 120.49 crore (including control premium) for a 81.23 percent stake.

Greaves Cotton says the investment is part of its long-term growth strategy to offer superior products and services in last-mile e-mobility space, which the company says is seeing significant interest from various quarters.

Nagesh Basavanhalli, MD and CEO, Greaves Cotton said: "Ampere is a pure-play EV company and a fast-growing player in the last-mile personal mobility segment. The investments further strengthen our commitment to transform ways in which people access and experience next-gen solutions. We aspire to be a complete auto ecosystem player and focused on building a wide portfolio of fuel agnostic and affordable last-mile products and services. These customer-centric solutions are designed to deliver savings and sustainability."

In June 2019, Ampere became one of the select few EV manufacturers in India to launch its high-speed electric two-wheeler 'ZeaI' with FAME II subsidy. And, in the last 10 months since the strategic acquisition of Ampere, Greaves Cotton's market share has grown significantly along with expansion of the company's retail footprint to 325 outlets.

Apart from personal mobility solutions, Ampere also has products in the Industrial usage segment. The company says it will continue to innovate towards greater design efficiencies and will enable localisation of production.

Greaves Cotton and Ampere Vehicles were the cover story for Autocar Professional's recent July 1, 2019 Maharashtra Special.  The 160-year-old Mumbai-based Greaves Cotton. This diesel engine manufacturer, which is a major supplier to three-wheeler OEMs, is now making a marked shift to electric mobility. Armed with its recent acquisition of the Coimbatore-based Ampere Vehicles (which has an efficient in-house EV powertrain manufacturing setup), the company is looking to be future-fit by developing affordable last-mile EVs and is also looking to set up charging infrastructure across the country. 

Also read: Greaves Cotton crosses 1,000 e-rickshaw sales mark