The $2.1 billion Kalyani Group, a leader in the auto component sector in India, today announced the acquisition of RSBconsult (RSB), Germany as a strategic step towards boosting its presence in the wind energy sector.The deal size was not disclosed.RSB is a design-and-consulting house with more than 150 man years of cumulative and international experience in the wind industry.Announcing the acquisition, B N Kalyani, chairman, Kalyani Group said, "We are already present in the wind energy sector, both as a wind farm operator as well as a supplier of components. With the acquisition of RSB, the Kalyani Group will have a strong and experienced design and engineering team that would take care of product technology, while the Kalyani Group will bring in its well-established global supply chain capabilities and engineering skills to drive the global business model and also manage Asia Pacific markets and operations from India."Wind turbines require a number of forged, machined and other metal components. Our foray into this business will therefore provide immense opportunities within the group to create a global component supply to the OEMs and Tier I companies in this industry."Dr Andreas Reuter, managing director, RSB said, "There are several complimentary capabilities that Kalyani group brings to the table that will help establish a globally competitive business model in this highly engineering intensive industry."The annual size of the wind energy sector business is about 20,000MW globally and 2,000MW in India. Global long-term growth rates are expected to be over 16% and by 2010, global market would be 30,000MW. The market is globally expanding and all studies point to its long-term prospects. The Kalyani Group plans to initially focus on Europe and India, and expand to other key markets of the world such as US and China by 2010.
