M&M buy out of Navistar from JVs to be completed this month

Also read: M&M, Ssangyong to invest USD 900 m in next 4 years

"The process is going on. We hope to complete the deal by January 31," M&M President (Automotive and Farm Equipment Sectors) Pawan Goenka said at a press conference.

M&M will invest between Rs 200-250 crore over three years on maintenance and upgrading the product line of the JV, Goenka said.

In December, Mahindra & Mahindra had said it will buy out its US-based partner Navistar Group from the JVs for Rs 175 crore.

M&M and Navistar had set up a joint venture to make trucks and buses in India - Mahindra Navistar Automotives Ltd (MNAL) in 2005. This was followed by another JV, Mahindra Navistar Engines Pvt Ltd (MNEPL) in 2007, for producing engines.

In both the JVs, M&M held 51 percent stake. The two partners have put in over Rs 1,065 crore in the two ventures.

For M&M, this is the second time in recent years that it has bought off a foreign partner from a joint venture.

In 2010, it had bought out French auto major Renault from their JV to make sedan Logan in India.