Spain's Fersa Group invests in India-based Delux Bearings

In January, Spanish automotive solutions provider and auto component manufacturer, Fersa Group purchased a majority stake in Mumbai-based Delux Bearings. Fersa Group has become the primary investor through its investment of about Rs 100 crore.

The money will be disbursed over period of three years during which Fersa Group will offer its technology and know-how to Delux Bearings. Delux Bearings is a Rathod family-owned transmission bearings manufacturer that has been in business since 1956. Over the years, the company has partnered with major OEMs to offer them customised engineered products.

The company has 300 employees working across its three factories in Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra and Surendranagar in Gujarat.

With the Spanish firm's association, Delux Bearings has set new business targets and is confident of generating Rs 500 crore revenue by FY26. Rohan Rathod, CEO, Delux Bearings speaking on the acquisition said, "From our humble roots, we are proud to be part of something 'bigger'. For us, Fersa Group is a global and international platform to showcase our local talent. In addition, we have partnered with a great family and company whose values and principles reflect our own".

The Spanish company has a market presence in more than 160 countries for logistics and 4 countries for manufacturing products. With this, Delux aims to position its products in all these countries and hopes for this to be a catalyst for its growth by doubling its revenue in the next two or three years.

"This partnership will help us boost Delux's growth in both local and international markets while allowing us to reach a wide network of international OEM and aftermarket customers that we could not access" he further added.

Pedro Pablo Andreu, COO, Fersa Group said: "With this investment, Fersa Group takes another step forward in its growth strategy, its commitment to sustainable technology and global presence."

EV Plans
As major auto component makers are getting on the EV bandwagon by introducing sustainable and smart components for OEMs, so what’s Delux’s game plan? The company identified this as a potential challenge early on and decided to search for partners that could help them in the electrification and Smart Mobility revolution.

And they found a perfect partner in Fersa Group, who already has a range of solutions that are both smart and electrified, as well as a high-performance high efficiency range of products for E-mobility. They are quite aggressive in the wind energy space and for commercial vehicles, they offer a range of smart and connected solutions for the wheel ends as well as for the transmission systems.

Focusing on exports
Delux’s global ambition is to be a part of the supply chain of the total Fersa Group and to be able to deliver products to all 160 countries. If it wasn’t for the acquisition, Delux would have been at risk to have the same growth level in size scale, technology and portfolio. But now with this new partnership, the company is confident and sure about a consistent growth rate into the next decade.

Fersa Group currently consists of Fersa Bearings, PFI Bearings, NKE Bearings and now Delux Bearings. As a result of the latest acquisitions, Fersa Group has increased its commitment in the growing OEM and aftermarket segments. The latest partnership initiative is expected to benefit both companies as they both aspire to become leaders in powertrain components, especially for heavy-duty vehicles. By 2023, the group expects to exceed €200 million in turnover after closing 2022 with €165 million in turnover and registerind an impressive 57 percent growth over 2021.

This feature was first published in Autocar Professional's January 15, 2023 issue.