Gulf Oil Lubricants Scouting For More Acquisitions
Gulf Oil Lubricants is on a look-out for more acquisitions in India and globally with-in the charging EV ecosystem as it seeks to strengthen its presence in the electric mobilitys where it’s a new entrant. The Hinduja Group company announced acquiring a controls take in Tirex Transmission for Rs 103 crore on Monday.
New Delhi: Gulf Oil Lubricants is on a lookout for more acquisitions in India and globally within the charging EV ecosystem as it seeks to strengthen its presence in the electric mobility segment, where it’s a new entrant. This is even as the company plans to continue to focus on its core lube business. The Hinduja Group company announced acquiring a controlling stake in Tirex Transmission for INR 103 crore on Monday. This is part of Gulf ’s global ambition towards being a leader in the EV charging ecosystem, a market which is already valued at USD 20 bn currently and expected to cross USD 200 bn by 2030, it said. India had 26,700 EV chargers at the end of 2022 and wants to scale the number upto 365,000.
“This is a starting point of the journey. We would like to make more such acquisitions in areas we can win,” Ravi Chawla, MD & CEO of Gulf Oil Lubricants India, told ET. For instance, in India the company is looking at more acquisitions in the EV charging infra space in the two-wheeler segment. This could be in battery swapping, he pointed out. The acquisition of Tirex – a third in the mobility space, is in line with the company’s broader plan to expand its footprint in the EV landscape and make a significant play in the EV value chain.
Gulf Oil Lubricants has invested in Indra Renewables- a UK based AC charging (slow charging) company with a ~8% share of the UK home charging market. It has also invested in ElectreeFi, a leading EV SaaS player which provides charging management soft-ware (CMS) solutions for major automakers in India. The investment in Tirex, which is a manufacturer of DC Fast Chargers, will enable Gulf towards a synergistic end to end play in the global EV charging ecosystem, said Chawla.
Tirex Transmission manufactures DC fast Chargers for EVs in India. It has deployed over 400 high-capacity EV fast chargers across the country, with the range spanning from 30 KW to 240 KW. It counts public sector undertakings, charge point operators and automakers as its key customers. Projections from the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) suggest a demand surge for around 1 million chargers by 2030, translating to a potential market value ranging from USD 1 billion to USD 1.4 billion in India alone. Further, there is a multi-billion-dollar opportunity in the global market, where DC Charging is a fast-growing segment.
