Puzzolana forms JV with Italian firm

City-based Puzzolana Group, a manufacturer of crushing, screening and bulk material handling systems, on Tuesday signed an MoU with Italy's Guidetti Recycling Systems to incorporate a joint venture (JV) company – Puzzolana-Guidetti.

The JV will manufacture earth moving equipment including pavers, compactors and graders using Guidetti’s technology at Puzzolana's 10-acre plant on the outskirts of Hyderabad. Puzzolana will hold an equity of 80 per cent in the JV and the rest will be with the over 30-million euro Italian company.

“The new manufacturing facility, commissioned with an investment of $5 million (approximately Rs 24 crore), currently has an optimum capacity of 1,200 units a year. The joint venture company will roll out the first set of models from this plant by this November and the full range by February 2011,” Prakash Pai, managing director of Puzzolana, told Business Standard.

The JV, in a joint effort with Guidetti, will market its products in Europe and India to start with, before leveraging its Italian partner’s global scale from next year, said Abhijeet Pai, director of Puzzolana Group. “The joint venture company’s first year focus will be on developing the products. We expect about $10 million (Rs 45 crore) from the JV thereon,” he added.