Hindujas in JV with France's Vinci; eyes road projects

"It is a 50:50 joint venture for acquiring small, local construction companies. We will put them together and move in a big way for road construction in the country," Hinduja Group's Co-chairman Gopichand P Hinduja told PTI here after signing the agreement.

He, however, declined to name the companies which are on the radar for acquisition.

"It is very difficult to tell them now unless we get them concluded, but within 90 days you will come to know about the first step of it," Hinduja said. When asked how much the joint venture partners would invest, Hinduja said that "it all depends on opportunities. We wanted to create an appropriate base for road construction business.

Talking on the sidelines of the Indo-French CEOs' Forum, Hinduja also said that the group has recently bid for a USD 4- billion utility company in Europe. He, however, declined to divulge details.

"Recently, we have gone and bid for an utility company with an enterprise value of around USD 4 billion," Hinduja said when asked about the investment plans of the company in Europe.

Talking about projects in India, he said the group is building power plants which will have a total of capacity of 10,000 MW. He added that finances for 1,000 MW have been tied up and work will start soon.

He, however, did not name the project. The group has been trying for long to set up a 1,000 MW power plant in Visakhapatanam, Andhra Pradesh.

When asked about the joint venture agreement between Ashok Leyland, a Hinduja group company, and Nissan for making light commercial vehicles, Hinduja said that "the product will come out in April 2011".