Kamaz to Buy Stake in AMW, Reposition itself in Indian Market

Kamaz Motors, the Indian subsidiary of Russian commercial vehicle maker Kamaz, is in talks with Indian truck maker Asia MotorWorks Ltd (AMW) for buying a minority stake in the latter’s business. This was confirmed by Alexey Agibalov, Director, Kamaz India, mid of this month.

While AMW hopes that this will help clear some of its $200 million debt to an extent, Kamaz hopes to increase its foothold in the Indian market by leveraging AMW’s presence in the domestic truck market.

The deal, if finalized, will be the first of its kind in the Indian CV space. Both manufacturers are in talks with each other since an year and the deal, after valuation, is expected to be closed by the end of this month.

AMW is a known brand in the heavy commercial vehicle space in India. The Gujarat based truck maker has its manufacturing facility in Bhuj and produces vehicles for several civilian and defence applications. Apart from trucks, AMW also makes tipper bodies, trailers and fully built vehicles. The company exports its trucks to neighbouring Asian nations including Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Kamaz Motors is the largest truck maker in Russia and the CIS, and manufactures commercial vehicles for different applications ranging from mining to construction to heavy duty infrastructure. The company entered the Indian truck market in 2009 via a joint venture with Britan’s Vectra Group. Kamaz has not been able to create much of a mark in the Indian truck market as compared to other brands such as Tata, Mahindra, Ashok Leyland, BharatBenz and Eicher. The company is now reworking its strategies to expand its operations and better its position in the Southeast Asian markets.