Voltas Ltd., the engineering services company of Tata Group, is looking for some acquisitions of Indian as well as foreign companies mainly for making its position strong in the water treatment and hydrocarbon segments. The acquisition company is looking for will be on small-scale and in the price range of Rs. 100-200 crore in the water and hydrocarbon segment.

Voltas is actually looking for those companies which can provide Voltas pre-qualification in certain industrial segments. For entering into water treatment segment, Voltas will prefer overseas acquisitions while in hydrocarbon segment Voltas will be looking at Indian companies.

Voltas is looking for about 8-9% margins by expanding its business into water treatment segment in the international market. Also, in August 2008, Voltas invested Rs. 62 crore to acquire 51% in an Indian company - Rohini Industrial Electricals and is also looking for some similar kind of acquisitions. Voltas will use its internal accruals for funding those acquisitions.

Voltas also reported its third quarter results with flattish top-line growth. The company reported total sales of Rs. 2,800 crore as on December 2009. During the quarter, the company saw some slow execution from some of its clients. Profit after tax jumped 85.8% y-o-y to Rs 76.5 crore with margin expansion and profits on sale of property (Rs 9.35 crore).

Voltas’ electro-mechanical projects and services contributed 65% to the company’s top-line growth. Voltas currently has an order book of nearly Rs. 3,900 crore and also expecting some more orders in the segment. West Asian countries, Singapore and Hong Kong are the key market for this segment. The company is also looking for some big orders from Abu Dhabi and Qatar-where Voltas has strong clientele.