CRRC on track to take over Czech firmGroup shifts focus to overseas marketsChina Railway Rolling Stock Corp, the country's largest railway vehicle and equipment manufacturer, is in takeover talks with Czech Republic's Skoda Transportation AS, a move to further increase its market share in Europe's railway markets. CRRC Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co, one of CRRC's manufacturers mainly producing electric locomotives, is in charge of the talks to buy a 100 percent stake in Skoda Transportation, the Hunan-based company said on Sunday. The Czech company mainly produces trams, electric locomotives, carriages and electric buses, as well as traction motors or complete drives for traffic systems. The sales revenue of Skoda Transportation reached 677 million euros ($721.3 million) in 2015, while its net income amounted to 22 million euros. Prior to that, CRRC's subsidiaries including CRRC Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive, Zhuzhou CRRC Times Electric Co and CRRC Sifang Co invested 3 billion yuan ($434.4 million) to acquire European technologies and manufacturing parts suppliers including the United Kingdom-based Dynex and Germany's Boge Elastmetall GmbH.

Source: The China Post November 29, 2016 18:06 UTC