KEC International, India?s second-largest maker of electricity transmission towers, agreed to acquire US-based SAE Towers Holdings for $95 million to help the company win business in North and Latin America.

The Mumbai-based company expects to complete the transaction by the month end and the deal to be accretive from the first year itself. ?The acquisition will help boost earnings in the year ending March 31, 2011. SAE Towers has a significant presence in areas of substantial interest to KEC. We expect to leverage SAE Towers? existing customer relations for KEC?s other business segments,? said Ramesh Chandak, managing director and chief executive officer, KEC International. .

Part of the deal would be financed via debt and while the rest would come from internal accruals. Currently, KEC has a capacity of 2,11,000 tonne (including the 60,000 tonne that is outsourced), which post-acquisition would increase by 1,00,000 tonne per annum.

SAE Towers will become 100% subsidiary of KEC and its affiliates. ?There are huge operational synergies which are possible in terms of procurement, designs and testing. We could also sell to the US markets at a lower cost through SAE Towers. Huge opportunities of synergies lie ahead which we will work towards,? said Harsh Goenka, chairman, RPG Enterprises.

SAE Towers is lattice transmission towers maker, producing 1,00,000 metric tonne per annum. It also manufactures steel poles for electrical transmission and employs over 750 personnel. It reported an Ebitda of $19 million and an annual turnover of $120 million in the financial year 2009-10. It is expected to end the current financial year with a turnover of $137 million. Its current order book stands at $126 million.

The acquisition doubles KEC’s geographies in area terms, said Goenka. The current debt level of KEC stands at Rs 786 crore. It currently has projects in over 25 countries across South Asia, Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, Australasia and South America. KEC is one of the world’s largest power transmission engineering, procurement and construction companies.