New Delhi, Apr 28: Ruling out its entry into passenger car segment, London-based Hinduja group expressed eagerness to acquire majority stake in French auto component maker Valeo, a deal that is reportedly estimated in the vicinity of $1.5 billion. "We have no plans for passenger car. We will be focusing in all range of commercial vehicles and not in passenger cars," Hinduja group’s Global president G P Hinduja said in an interview here.

On its negotiations with the French component major, Hinduja said: "We were interestingly looking into Valeo. Our senior experts had gone there and they are still evaluating." He, however, declined to talk about the financial details of the deal that is reported to be in the range of $1.5 billion.

"If we find that it has a synergy and it is a value addition to Ashok Leyland, we will go for it, otherwise no," he added. When asked whether the group is looking to acquire a majority stake in Valeo, Hinduja said, "Without that (51% stake), we are not going anywhere."

Earlier in the month, the French auto component major announced to sell its truck engine cooling division to Swedish private equity firm EQT Partners AB. The division generated sales of over 170 million euro in 2007.

France-based Valeo is focused on design, production and sale of auto components, systems and modules for cars and trucks, both on the original equipment market and the aftermarket. Valeo has 125 production sites, 62 R&D centers and nine distribution platforms in 28 countries across the world. The group employs over 60,000 people all over the world.

Earlier in 2006, Ashok Leyland had its first acquisition in the form of Czech firm Avia for about $35 million. The acquisition brought Leyland an additional annual production capacity of 20,000 vehicles.

Besides pursuing for Valeo, Hinduja said Ashok Leyland is developing two projects — one bus body building unit in Ras Al Khaimah (UAE) and the other in Dubai for special purpose vehicles. The company is expecting to commission the Ras Al Khaimah project by August this year, Hinduja said. On investment in the project, he said investment in Ras Al Khaimah could be anywhere between $10-15 million.