Kavveri eyeing acquisition in radio frequency space

Stepping up its expansion plans, telecom products manufacturer Kavveri Telecom Products has been evaluating acquisition targets in North America and central and Latin American countries, according to informed sources.

Sources said, the company has been evaluating four to five potential target companies in the US, central and Latin America to expand its footprint in the radio frequency (RF) antenna manufacturing space. “Europe is another key market where Kavveri is looking to tap opportunities in the wireless networking space. The investment range for such an acquisition this year would be from $10 million upto $100 million,” sources said.

The Bangalore-based company manufactures antennas and radio frequency RF products for the wireless space catering to industries like telecom and defence. The company reported revenues of Rs 190 crore during fiscal 2008-09 (excluding Canadian revenues of $7.5 million, and revenue from North American subsidiaries of over $6.5 million).

All four acquisitions carried out by Kavveri Telecom in the past four years have been in Canada. These include DCI Digital Communications, a radio frequency interference products manufacturer, Til-Tek Antennae and Spotwave Wireless.

In July last year, Kavveri Telecom, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Kavveri Technologies, acquired a 67 per cent stake in Montreal-based Trackcom Systems International for an undisclosed sum. With this acquisition, Kavveri now has access to a portfolio of RF products and antennas upto 40 Ghz for space, defence and telecom applications. The company intends to acquire the rest of the stake of TSI in the next 4-5 years.

Founded in 1991, Kavveri has a market cap of Rs 104 crore and cash reserves of over Rs 30 crore. Some of the company’s clientele in India include Motorola, Ericsson, Nokia-Siemens, Nortel, ZTE, Alcatel-Lucent, Vodafone Essar, Idea, BSNL and Reliance.

The promoter group led by Kavveri Telecom’s managing director C Shivkumar Reddy holds 14.61 per cent in the company.