A joint venture between the Kineco Group and Exel Composites creates a new composites design, engineering, and production company focused on serving the Indian market with pultruded composite solutions. The joint venture brings together two well-known names in the composites industries, creating a new company called Kineco Exel Composites India. The company and its manufacturing facility are based in Goa (India) and will offer pultruded composites for markets as diverse as transportation, wind power, infrastructure, telecommunications, aerospace and defense.

The Kineco Group, also headquartered in Goa, was founded in 1995 and offers a range of advanced composite products and integrated systems, and is known for its capabilities and quality, as well as its composite design know-how. Exel, founded in 1960 in Finland, is today the world’s largest pultruder; the joint venture is the latest step in the company’s global growth strategy.

“Kineco has excellent brand recognition in India, and together with our pultrusion expertise we are starting from a very strong position. This joint venture provides immediate access into the Indian market which shows clear growth potential and demand. India has been a focus of ours for a while, and now with this “in India, with India, for India” capability the team at Kineco Exel Composites India can begin to reach out to prospective customers in the joint venture’s focus market segments”, said Olli Tevä, SVP Sales and Marketing at Exel Composites.

“Kineco is happy to be the partner of choice for a leading global company such as Exel, who has decided to invest in India. Exel’s technological expertise and composites know-how, particularly in pultrusion, will enable us to bring our own, more recent pultrusion business to the next level. We welcome Exel to India and look forward to growing our pultrusion business together while at the same time, creating a long-term value for the shareholders of both the companies”, said Shekhar Sardessai, Founder and Managing Director of Kineco Group and Managing Director of Kineco Exel Composites India.

“Kineco Exel Composites India will focus on developing pultruded composite solutions for customers across India. Our manufacturing plant is already operational and will pultrude a variety of composite products. This could be anything from bus panels for the transport sector, components for wind turbine blades or radomes for telecommunications, among others”, continued Sardessai.

This joint venture into India continues Exel’s growth strategy to develop a truly global footprint from which it can better serve its customers. In 2017, Exel acquired China’s Nanjing Jianhui Composite Material, and in 2018 continued the expansion with the acquisition of Diversified Structural Composites in the United States.

“This strategic investment provides Exel with direct presence in the fast-growing Indian composites market. Kineco Group’s long and established position in the Indian composites industry allows us to expand into India with a “flying start”. The investment fits Exel’s strategy and growth initiatives well, and clearly strengthens our competitive position towards current and new customers. We are looking forward to joining forces with the committed local team and boosting our future presence in India”, concluded Riku Kytömäki, President and CEO of Exel Composites.