USD 400 million Western Auto L.L.C (part of the ETA Star Group, UAE), and Euro 585.2 million, PALFINGER today announced setting up of a joint venture for distribution and service of PALFINGER cranes and hookloaders in India. The JV partners have established a new subsidiary called Star Palfinger, with an initial investment outlay of € 1.2 million.

Star Palfinger will be an integrated sourcing and distribution operation for selected, high end PALFINGER cranes and other products. The ETA Star Western Auto Group will hold majority stake in the JV with 74%. Palfinger Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd will hold the balance of 26%.

Under the MOU, Star Palfinger will be the exclusive importer and marketer of the selected range of cranes.

Star Palfinger Equipments India Pte. Ltd., headquartered in Chennai, will be responsible for the full customer support, including installation support and service support for PALFINGER cranes and other products all over the country. Regional sales and service representatives will ensure that spare parts and support is available to all customers whenever needed. “Our JV with PALFINGER AG synergises with our diversification plans to service and support the growing infrastructure and transport sectors in the Indian market. Through our regional sales and service representative offices, we will guarantee timely spare parts supply, full service and technical support,” said, Jahufar Buhari, Director & CEO of ETA Star Western Auto India.

75 year old PALFINGER of Austria, Europe, produces more truck-mounted knuckle boom cranes than any other company and operates 16 factories around the globe. The superior European made crane can be fitted to standard Indian truck chassis, thus ensuring excellent price value ratio of the complete transport and crane solution, lifting loads from 1 ton up to 40 ton.

Speaking on the occasion, A.J.Kamal, Director, Western Auto LLC, said, “We are delighted to partner with the world leaders in truck-mounted knuckle boom cranes PALFINGER. We believe the highly flexible truck-mounted crane models from PALFINGER will be a huge success in the Indian construction and transportation industry. The PALFINGER range offers better flexibility in deployment and also higher ROI with cost savings on capital expenditure and maintenance.”

PALFINGER a global leader in hydraulic lifting, loading and handling systems, has been represented by a subsidiary in Asia since 2006, with its headquarters in Singapore, and an assembly plant for container handling systems in Shenzhen, China. PALFINGER recorded an impressive 38% increase in its sales in the Asian markets in the first half year of 2007 and is looking at better growth in the coming years.

“We see enormous market potential here. Therefore, it is important to be present from the beginning and to participate in the development of the market. For the PALFINGER Group this is an essential investment in the future”, said Wolfgang Anzengruber, CEO, PALFINGER AG.

"We are pleased to have found Western Auto L.L.C as a partner with whom we can jointly participate in the building up of the market in India. Our primary goal is to create a foundation for the expected increase of demand in the following years" added, Christoph Rauch, Managing Director of Palfinger Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.

The partnership intends to capitalise on the exploding growth in the Indian infrastructure and transportation industry projected for the next two decades. In the coming years, the Company will also look at the replacement market emerging in the currently and still widely-used “pick and carry” cranes. While in 2006 the demand for cranes was only 80 pieces, market researchers expect it to amount to around 1,100 cranes by the year of 2015.

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About Western Auto L.L.C: Western Auto L.L.C is a part of ETA Star Group. The group is domiciled in Dubai and currently records annual sales of around USD 4 billion with a staff of more than 51,000. In India, the group is active in the business segments of construction, transport, real estate and automobiles. The $ 400 million Western Auto has operations in Saudi, Sudan, Kuwait, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Bangkok, India and China. Western Auto sells 12,000 vehicles in addition to construction equipment, auto components and commercial vehicles. Western Auto represents Indian commercial vehicle manufacturers Ashok Leylands in Saudi Arabia and Forton, one of China’s largest manufacturers of commercial vehicles in the UAE. Western Auto also represents Telma Retarders in India and UAE which is a part of the Valeo Group of France.

About PALFINGER AG: PALFINGER has for many years been one of the world’s leading manufactures of hydraulic lifting, loading and handling systems. As a multinational group headquartered in Salzburg, the company’s 3,500 staff generated total sales in 2006 of EUR 585.2 million. The Group has production and assembly facilities in Europe, North and South America as well as in Asia. The strategic pillars of the corporate strategy comprise innovation, internationalization and diversification of products and services. PALFINGER is regarded not only as the market leader, but also the technology leader, in the global market for hydraulic knuckle-boom cranes. PALFINGER is always in the proximity to its customers due to its over 1,600 sales and services centres located in over 125 countries across five continents.