Confirming this, Romania's Commerce Minister Ioan-Codrut Seres said, "M&M is in final talks with our privatisation department on various clauses of the agreement - the level of investment and the number of workers to be employed."
M&M, which bid for 80 per cent in Tractorul three months ago, emerged the sole bidder for the Rs 250 crore (Rs 2.5 billion) Romanian firm. The company produces 15,000 tractors a year at its facility in Brasov and has an additional capacity of 18,000 engines.
When contacted, the official spokesperson for M&M declined to divulge details. "All I can say is that we have put in a bid," she said.
The Romanian government had put Tractorul on the block again after Italy's Landini backtracked from its initial offer.
The acquisition would help M&M to foray in the European markets - something the company has been trying to do for the past three years, sources said. In 1992, it had made an abortive attempt to acquire Finland-based Valtra.
M&M had recently entered China by forming a joint venture, Mahindra (China) Tractor Company. The joint venture's Nanchang plant has a capacity to manufacture 12,000 tractors a year.
The company will cater to the Chinese market as well export to the US, Australia and India. M&M has set a target of becoming the fourth largest tractor manufacturer in the world over the next five years.
The M&M stock closed at Rs 359.35 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, 2.56 per cent lower than the previous close of Rs 368.80 on Monday.
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