The Boards of Crompton Greaves Ltd, an industrial conglomerate based in India, and Pauwels Group, a transformer manufacturer with headquarters in Belgium, have voted in favour of a strategic merger of their organisations in pursuit of future profitable growth through increased global competitiveness and the joint development of fully integrated solutions. To achieve this strategic objective, Crompton Greaves has offered to acquire all of the share capital of Pauwels Contracting NV, the holding company of the Pauwels Group, in a transaction that should be completed by the end of April 2005.
Operationally Pauwels will become the international division of the new group. Mr Eric Van Zele will continue to lead Pauwels as President and Chief Executive Officer, reporting to Mr Sudhir Trehan, Chief Executive Officer of Crompton Greaves Ltd.
Restructuring plans were not the basis for this acquisition. Instead, both companies decided to join forces in pursuit of geographic and operational synergies while aiming to develop a common future as an integrated solutions provider to the training and development industry. For the Pauwels Group the acquisition concludes almost six decades of family ownership.
