The Hindu Business Line : Sona Group approves merger of two cos

"The synergies of the merger will benefit both the companies. The board of the two companies met today and approved the proposal," said Dr Surinder Kapur, Chairman, Sona Group.

The merged entity would also be know as Sona Somic Lemforder and the shareholding pattern would remain the same.

At present, Japan-based Somic Ishikawa, German company ZF Lemforder and Sona Group hold 33 per cent stake, respectively, in the joint venture.

At present, the gross sales of SSL are about Rs 75 crore and that of SCL about Rs 12 crore. The sales of the merged entity are expected to touch Rs 120 crore next year.

Meanwhile, Sona Group has charted out a major expansion plan for SSL, whereby it would spend about Rs 15 crore to set up a new ball bearings plant most likely in Gurgaon.

The new unit would add about 2.5 million units to SSL's present ball bearings capacity of 4.2 million.

In addition, the company is planning an investment of about Rs 7 crore over the next 2-3 years in the cold forgings unit.

"We are also diversifying into manufacturing ball bearings for light commercial vehicles and are in talks with major commercial vehicles manufacturers such as Tata Motors to supply the same," Dr Kapur said.

At present, SSL's major customers are Sona Koyo Steering, Maruti Udyog Ltd, General Motors India and Honda Siel.

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