In second half of October, TVS had carved out a subsidiary for electric vehicles, reasoning that it will give it “scale and flexibility” to expand the EV business. TVS is seeking to raise funds from pure financial investors and has no plans to onboard strategic investors, one of the people told ET.
The Chennai-based company didn’t respond to an email seeking comment till press time on Monday. Another homegrown automaker, Tata Motors, had raised $1 billion from TPG Capital in October at a valuation of $9.1 billion for its EV business. TVS’ rival, Bajaj Auto, in July had announced a plan to set up a dedicated electric vehicle subsidiary, which will primarily cater to manufacturing and selling of two-, three- and four-wheelers.
TVS is said to have roped in an investment banker to advise it. The exact amount of investment and the valuation is yet to be firmed up, the people close to the development said, declining to be named, as they are not authorised to speak on the matter.
“These (talks) are early and exploratory in nature. It may take six to 12 months for the investor to come on board,” one of them said.
Sudarshan Venu, a scion of the TVS family, now leads the EV strategy for the company. Former Jaguar Land Rover CEO Ralf Speth, who was recently appointed chairman of , and Kuok Meng Xiong, an investor in leading global ecommerce firms ByteDance, Palantir and Airbnb, are mentoring Venu on the EV business.
The fund proposed to be raised will be primarily used to develop a product pipeline to cater to the global and local market.
