amtek auto made a global acquisition in 2005 when it acquitted zelter a german forging company zelters business has been under pressure over the past three years move on to march 2014 amtek acquired germanybased kuepper group a casting and machining sub assembly group since the buyout the latters ebitda margins have improved to 109 from 74 thanks to cost savings of 36 million the learning curve is now complete between 2005 and 2010 indian auto component companies made 68 global acquisitions investing 1 billion in almost five years after that they made about 28 international buyouts worth 12 billion only in deals where value was disclosed there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the second wave of acquisitions have done far better than the first what changed how did indian component makers crack the global acquisitions puzzle caution thats the first lesson arvind dham cmd of auto ancillary company amtek learnt between the two waves of acquisitions read also amtek auto to buy german company rege we never overpaid any of our recent acquisitions which has been far larger than the first round says dham amtek made almost 15 acquisitions of 70150 million each between 2003 and 2008 the second wave of acquisitions made during 20102015 have been larger about 400500 million but each of these have been more measured in the second wave indian companies have managed to ensure better due diligence timing of transaction integration of acquired companies and better financing we acquired companies and turned them around enhanced their capability and provided solutions to customers says pankaj mittal coo of motherson sumi this wave also helped indian companies win more global customers through the acquired companies nk minda cmd of the uno minda group says the 8million acquisition of clarton horn in spain helped win more business through readymade customers such as volkswagen and bmw minda who expects a payback within six to seven years says integration holds the key outbound deals are consummated with the primary objective of either adding on to the market coverage or increasing capabilities through technology or adding on to the product profile says sridhar venkatachari partner grant thornton india deals which are planned executed with appropriate diligence and integrated well do well on the expected acquisition synergies ancillary majors such as motherson sumi minda and amtek have been comparatively more successful than early movers like bharat forge and sona koyo the latter after their initial thrust in global acquisitions have either diversified into noncore areas or have set up greenfield units for example bharat forge which did a spate of outbound acquisitions between 2005 and 2010 is now increasing exposure to nonautomotive businesses and sona koyo is in consolidation mode across the industry some of the first wave of acquisitions done between 2005 and 2010 are struggling companies got cheaper deals but were not able to smoothly integrate due to cultural differences and labour issues and so were unable to grow the business says jayant davar md