“The domestic businesses at CGL grew in the last four years at a healthy pace of 25.8%,” said Trehan. “ABB, Siemens and Areva...none of them have grown at 25% in recent years.”
CGL is a Rs9,200 crore (less than $2 billion) company, a fraction of the $15-30 billion size of its international rivals.
“There’s no comparison, but as we grow faster by 2015, in six years time we will be $8 billion,” Trehan said. “That will be a respectable size to compare with our global peers. Today we are small.”
Crompton’s European acquisitions include Pauwels, the Belgium-based transformer maker acquired for Rs190 crore.
With annual production of 30,000 transformers, it has so far sold almost 600,000 transformers. Ganz, the Hungarian manufacturer of sub-stations and switchgears, was acquired for Rs200 crore.
Crompton is eyeing more overseas acquisition opportunities as the global recession drives down valuations.
“The right time (for acquisitions) will be six months down the line,” Trehan said. The company is eyeing opportunities in power production and industrial automation.
Back home, the company has funds to invest in its existing businesses even post the Avantha investment and earmarked a capital expenditure of Rs250 crore for fiscal 2010.
“We are a debt free company. When we have to grow, we have enough cash, and the balance sheet is debt free to enable us to leverage it for growth, anytime we want to,” Trehan said.
satish.j@livemint.com