Indian Electronics Group Interested in Motorola Handsets Division

India's largest consumer electronics manufacturer, Videocon Group is considering a bid for Motorola's soon to be independent handset division - reports Bloomberg News. The group, based in Aurangabad, is in the initial stages of evaluating a bid, Chairman Venugopal Dhoot said in a telephone interview , declining to comment on financial terms because they haven't been determined yet.

Mary Lamb, a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for Motorola, declined to comment on market speculation.

An acquisition would be difficult as Motorola's handset division is independently valued at around US$3.8 billion, whilst Videocon Group values itself at US$2.5 billion (independent valuations are around the US$2 billion mark). The company has successfully raised in principle $700 million in financing for a recent attempt to buy South Korea's Daewoo Electronics. The bid was rejected by the firms creditors - and the recent credit crunch could make raising the debt more difficult the second time round.

Videocon is an industrial conglomerate with interests all over the world and based in India. The group has 17 manufacturing sites in India and plants in China, Poland, Italy and Mexico. Turnover in 2007 was US$4.7 billion

On the web: Bloomberg News

Posted to the site on 1st April 2008