BANGALORE, INDIA: With APW Electronics in receivership, its 30 percent stake in enclosure systems manufacturer APW President Systems, India, is up for sale. The Indian promoters, who hold 40 percent stake in the company, are keen to replace the troubled US-based enclosures and electronics manufacturer with another technology partner. The balance 30 percent stake is held by the public.

Talking to CIOL, Pramod Agashe, chief operating officer of APW President Systems Ltd said, "Several options are being explored, but we are looking for a strong technology partner with good experience in data centers."

The company has reportedly been in discussion with several global enclosure systems, including Emerson Electric, Rittal and Pentair, for possible investment in the company. In India's Rs 800 crore enclosure systems market, Germany's Rittal is the market leader.

The APW group, once at over $1 billion in revenues, had operations in various countries including the USA. APW Electronics UK had eight manufacturing units at one point. In April 2007, APW UK went into receivership (a form of bankruptcy in which a company avoids liquidation by reorganizing with the help of a court-appointed trustee). The equity investment in APW President was by APW Electronics Group, UK.

US-based APW (originally Applied Power, Inc.) had earlier filed for Chapter 11 protection way back in 2002, in the New York City court. It was subsequently acquired by a group of venture capital firms and banks, and was back in business.

"Looking at the current stock market scenario, the Indian promoters don't have the funds to buy out APW's stake. And we are interested in getting a global technology leader in our space, to replace APW--and not just a financial investor," adds Agashe.

A company that APW later acquired, Vero Electronics, Inc, entered India in the mid-1990s through a joint venture with the Mumbai-based President Systems. After Vero's acquisition by APW in the late 1990s, the Indian company was renamed APW President.

APW President recorded a turnover of Rs 130 crore in FY 2007-08, and is expecting 25 percent growth to touch Rs 162 crore this fiscal.

APW President specializes in electronic enclosure systems, a market worth about Rs 450 crore, with a 30 percent market share. But it is also keen on entering the industrial enclosures space, a Rs 300 crore market in India.

Its primary business has been the manufacture and sale of standard electronic enclosures for technology firms like Cisco, IBM and Dell, besides customers in the telecom space such as Reliance, Vodafone, Nokia and Ericsson.

Since 2002, the company has been involved in contract manufacturing. Today, that accounts for half its business, with customers including Ericsson, Nokia-Siemens, NCR, Reliance Communications etc.

The company has expansion plans in the data center management software space, for which it has entered into an arrangement with UK-based Global Datacentres Management (GDCM), to distribute its "nlyte" product for India and the Middle East region.

The company also has a subsidiary, APW Systems MEA, based in the Sharjah Free Zone. Its exports to the UAE and Australia account for over a tenth of its revenues.

APW President has two manufacturing units, one each in Pune and Bangalore.