CHENNAI: The $15 billion deal between Mahindra Two Wheelers and Peugeot Motorcycles, which will result in Mahindra acquiring a 51 per cent stake in the 54 billion Euro PSA Group, is set to be completed in February this year.
According to senior officials from the two wheeler arm of the Mahindra Group, the transaction which will complete the deal is only being held up by some documentation work.
“The deal is under progress. We are waiting for some documentation work to go through. I hope that by end of January or early February we should be able to clear all the hurdles,” said Viren Poplin, Chief of Operations, Mahindra Two Wheelers.
Mahindra had made a binding offer to acquire a 51 per cent stake in Peugeot Motorcycles, one of the oldest motorcycle manufacturers in the world, in October last year. The deal is to take the form of an infusion of capital, of 15 billion euros, from Mahindra Two Wheelers Ltd into the French auto major that would finance joint projects to be implemented later.
Popli also said that it is unlikely that Mahindra would try to change or tamper with the Peugeot brand post the deal. “We are not going to create a Mahindra that looks like a Peugeot. I think, we will let Peugeot do Peugeot and Mahindra do Mahindra,” he said.
“Peugeot was the first two wheeler maker in the world to manufacture motorised transport. When you have a brand like that, with such a long history, you do not try to mess it up,” he added.
According to him, the two brands served different segments with Mahindra more suited for the ‘mass’ segments and Peugeot a shoo-in at the premium.
On the company’s newest launch, for which both he and several other senior officials from Mahindra were in Chennai on Thursday, Popli said that since its launch in the northern states 10,000 units of the Gusto had already been sold. Mahindra Two Wheelers is also getting ready to launch its 300cc motorcycle, the Mojo. Once that is done the company will start filling the gap in their product portfolio between the 110cc and 300cc models.