CROSS-BORDER ACQUISITIONS: A CASE OF AN INDIAN ENGINEERING FIRM

Indian engineering industry has shown an outstanding growth over the last few years largely driven by infrastructure and industrial production. This sector has a strategic importance in the Indian economy as it is the largest segment in the Indian industries. There has been a spate of Cross-border acquisitions in nearly every Indian industry including engineering industry; though, acquisitions across borders by Indian engineering firms have not received much attention from academicians. The present study is an attempt to fill the gap in existing literature by undertaking an in-depth analysis of motivations behind these acquisitions and how shareholders of acquiring firms perceive these acquisitions. This study takes a case of cross-border acquisition by an Indian engineering firm; Precision Camshaft Limited. Precision Camshafts Limited is an auto component manufacturer and a leading supplier of camshafts to passenger vehicle manufacturers. Currently, it has 150 varieties of Camshafts with a well-established presence across different geographies. It generates most of its revenue from exports in Europe, Asia, North America and South America and it also has existence in other countries. In March 2018, it acquired a German firm; MFT (Motoren und Fahrzeug Technik Gmbh). We used event study methodology to analyze the impact of announcement of its acquisition news to the general public, results suggest that the shareholders of Precision Camshafts Limited responded positively to its acquisition of MFT as Cumulative abnormal returns are significant at 5% level. Our analysis also suggests that there are three main motivations behind cross-border acquisitions by Indian engineering firms; technological up-gradation, increasing customer base and to become a global brand.