Harsco Corp eyes buyouts in India

Harsco Corporation, a Camp Hill, US-based industrial company, is open to acquisitions across geographies including in India, according to president and chief executive officer Patrick K Decker.

The New York Stock Exchange-listed company, with $3 billion in annual sales, has been built through over 25 acquisitions. The company has close to $100 million in cash and cash equivalents on its books.

"We are looking at acquisitions that are strategic in nature and would bring unique value to our four business divisions - onsite contract services to steel and metal companies, infrastructure, rail and industrial," he told mediapersons here on Tuesday.

Harsco, which has bagged a $100-million contract from the Jindal Group for material handling and a $225-million contract from JSW Steel to provide onsite services in the last one year, is pursuing metal and mineral and rail contract opportunities in the domestic market.

"We are working towards replicating our success in China (where Harsco bagged a $360-million rail contract last year), in India. Rail lines in India are quite old and worn, which need to be replaced. We are prospecting the Indian market right now ... it is a sizeable market for us to realise our growth goals," Decker said.

At present, Harsco employs a 700-strong sales and marketing team in India, besides 220 professional at their global innovation park (GIP) located in Hyderabad, where they work on business and marketing intelligence, ERP, global sourcing, rail engineering, IT infrastructure and financial solutions.

"We are looking at setting up satellite centres in Hyderabad as the existing GIP is set to reach a critical mass," Decker said, adding the company was open to various business models, including entering into joint ventures with Indian companies to gain access to more businesses at the local level.

The company garners around 20 per cent of its revenues from the US and 40 per cent from the Europe, with the remaining from Asia-Pacific, Africa etc.