Pennar to spend up to Rs 200 cr on acquisitions

The city-based steel company Pennar Industries is looking at acquisitions for faster growth and has earmarked around Rs 200 crore for this, company chairman J Nrupender Rao said here today.

"We propose to spend about Rs 150-200 crore as the company will be debt-free by next fiscal," Rao told mediapersons on the sidelines of the launch of the company's wholly-owned subsidiary Pennar Engineered Building Systems.

The Pennar Group chairman said the company has been spending Rs 30 crore annually for expansion through the organic mode.

The Pennar Engineered Building Systems facility, with a capacity of 60,000 tonne, has been made half operational with an investment of Rs 50 crore, out of the planned Rs 100 crore.

Rao said orders worth Rs 60 crore are on hand and the company is eyeing business of Rs 500 crore when the facility becomes fully operational.

He said consolidated sales would cross Rs 1,100 crore next fiscal.

The group executive director Ananth Reddy said, "We expect exports of Pennar Engineered Building Systems to be at 15-20 per cent of total production," Reddy said.