Ok, this is extraordinary news.

A dynamic and successful Indian Wind turbine manufacturer - Suzlon - has outbid a French nuclear company - Areva - for control of a German wind turbine manufacturer - Repower Systems AG.

Talk about chutzpah!

I've had my doubts about this deal - I still do. But Suzlon's rationale behind it is the following;

i) REpower will give Suzlon access to high-value, high-capacity turbines ranging between 1.5-5 MW
ii) These are more likely to generate sales in developed countries
iii) They will also get Repower's technology for offshore turbines

All of that makes sense enough. Although a distinguished economist I was speaking to recently thought that many takeovers and mergers fail because those firms omitted to conduct an audit of the intellectual property assets. This has often led to an exercise in brand destruction - think of Daimler Chrysler. Mix up high-quality, medium production runs with low-quality, high production runs and what happens to the brand name?

Obviously, this isn't a like for like comparison. But I tend to think that organic growth is a better path in manufacturing. 2 years from now, we'll have a much better idea of whether this takeover has really worked - or not.