Suzlon claims victory in bid for German wind-power firm

May 25, 2007, 14:11 GMT

Hamburg - Suzlon, the Indian manufacturer of wind-generators, claimed victory Friday in the takeover struggle for Repower, a fast-growing German builder of the giant machines.

Tulsi R Tanti, founder and chief of Suzlon Energy, said in a telephone conference from Bombay, that he would become chairman of the board at Repower.

The previous day, the rival bidder, French nuclear reactor builder Areva, had portrayed itself as a joint and equal proprietor.

However, Tanti said the agreement would lead to Suzlon controlling 70 to 75 per cent of Repower shares with the rest held by multiple investors. He said Areva had transferred its voting rights to Suzlon while retaining ownership of the shares.

After a one-year freeze, Areva would be able to sell the shares to Suzlon at any time 'at a fair market price.' On Thursday, state-controlled Areva had only spoken of a guaranteed exit option which would ensure it a profit of 350 million euros (470 million dollars).

'Repower and Suzlon are going be in a leading position worldwide,' said Tanti, a former textile manufacturer who branched out into engineering for better returns. Wind power is booming amid world efforts to cut carbon dioxide emissions.

He said Repower, which currently assembles its wind generators entirely from bought-in components, would not be consolidated into the Suzlon group but would remain a separate company.

'The bottleneck is the suppliers,' said Tanti, explaining that Suzlon had the necessary components. Repower is to open a plant next year to make rotor blades, its first own-manufacturing operation.