Titagarh acquires sick French freight car co

Titagarh Wagons Ltd (TWL) formally acquired an ailing French freight car and rolling stock manufacturing company on Thursday for €12.5 million through court approved proceedings. Railway Tribunal De Commerce De Paris approved the TWL's takeover bid of IGF Industries — Arbel Fauvet Rail SA (AFR) on Wednesday.

The Paris court asked TWL to bring in an additional € 2.5 million as initial working capital and retain 80 employees out of a total of 250. TWL in its bid submitted on June 5 had offered to absorb 75.

The deal would be wrapped up on Thursday and management control would formally be passed on to TWL on Friday. TWL is acquiring the unit through its wholly-owned French subsidiary which, along with AFR, would undergo a change in names shortly. AFR currently has equity of €5 million and a number of patented design and manufacturing technologies.

AFR's plant is in Douai in northern France on a 25-hectare industrial site including 52,000 sq m of covered area and a network of nearly 5 km of railways connected national network. The revenue generation under the TWL management is expected to start from December.