Hero Cycles acquires 60% stake in Sri Lanka's BSH Ventures

 New Delhi: Hero Cycles today announced picking up of 60 per cent stake in Sri Lankan bicycle manufacturer BSH Ventures, its third major acquisition within six months, for an undisclosed sum.

"The acquisition comes in line with the company's aggressive intent to strengthen its global presence and to spruce up its manufacturing proficiency to feed a rapidly rising global demand," Hero Cycles said in a statement.

"This is a major strategic acquisition for us as we work to expand our presence globally ? both in terms of sales as well as presence," Hero Cycles Chairman & Managing Director Pankaj Munjal said.

Hero Cycles will further invest into ramping up the plant capacity in Sri Lanka to half a million units per year with clear plans laid out to fuel the domestic as well as ever growing global demand, he added.

BSH Ventures is an export-oriented bicycle manufacturing company located in the Biyagama Export Zone in Sri Lanka.

Earlier, the company had acquired UK-based Avocet Sports and Firefox Bikes.

Avocet Sports was Hero Cycles' first overseas acquisition and marked its entry into mass segment of European bicycle market. On the other hand, the acquisition of Firefox Bikes helped it cement its position in the fast-growing premium bicycling segment in India.

The company said the acquisition of BSH Ventures has enabled Hero Cycles to actively build this facility as a key hub for manufacturing its premium bicycles to meet the global demand, and double up exports to Avocet.

Simultaneously, it will also feed the ever growing demand for premium bicycles to the South Indian market, given its geographical proximity to Sri Lanka, it added.

At present, Hero Cycles has a manufacturing capacity of 7.5 million bicycles per year, with its units in Ludhiana (Punjab), Bihta (Bihar) and Ghaziabad (UP).