US firm buys into B'lore-based branding firm

Serigraph Inc., a US-based company that manufactures decorative components for automotive, appliances, power sports, retail, food and beverage, and mobile phones among others, has picked up a 12 per cent stake in SJS Enterprises, a Bangalore-based branding company.

The agreement will be an open door arrangement as per which both the companies were free to transfer technology and jointly reach out to markets with innovative products and strategies, the officials of both the company informed here on Monday.

Addressing reporters, V Srinivasan, director, SJS Enterprises said the company's joint venture with Serigraph was the first of its kind in the branding industry arena of the country.

"We are extremely delighted with this opportunity and privileged to partner a world leader like Serigraph," he said adding, we had embarked on joint plans with regard to marketing strategy and new technologies to address the customers' on going demand for continuous innovation.

Srinivasan said that following the signing of the JV, the company had become truly global and has set an eye at achieving a turnover of Rs 100 crore by 2008.

"The JV will help us get orders from Serigraph," he said and added that SJS was planning to beef up its production capacity by ramping up its headcount to address the untapped industry segment.

Headquartered out of Bangalore, SJS was founded in 1987 by three entrepreneurs including Srinivasan, S Siva Kumar and K A Joseph.

The company, which design decorative trim, emblems, dials overlays, soft touch panels for automative, appliances and allied industries, has some of the blue chip companies in its list of customers.

They include HP, LG, Godrej, TVS, Ford, Maruti, Hyundai, Whirlpool, Carrier Aircon, Motorola, Mico-Bosch and General Motors among others.

SJS's turnover in the last fiscal was Rs 30 crore. S Siva Kumar, who is one of the three directors of the company informed that the company had invested at least Rs 8 crores in capacity expansion last year which included expansion of space as well as machineries. The company presently employs 420 persons.

John Torinus Jr, chairman and CEO of Serigraph said both the companies shared a lot of things in common and their strategies in serving the multi-national customers was also common.

"The joint venture will help us spread wings and cater to the global market for product decoration," he added.

Serigraph's which had a turnover of Rs 160 million in FY 2006, has its headquarter at West Bend, Wisconsin in the USA.

The company, which has a global employee strength of 1,300, has global associates in China, Malaysia and Taiwan, company's COO Mike Palm informed.