Ashok Leylands Switch Mobility, Dana tie-up: Stock spurts almost 10%

Trading near its all-time high level, the shares of Ashok Leyland jumped almost 10 per cent to Rs 137.45 on the BSE intraday trade on Friday, as the company announces that its arm Switch Mobility’s minority stake picked up by Dana, a global leader in drivetrain and e-propulsion systems.

The stock of the commercial vehicle (CV) major had hit a 52-week high level of Rs 138.85 touched on February 4, 2021.

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Ashok Leyland, in its filing to the company on Friday, mentioned that its Electrified Commercial Vehicles company arm had announced on Wednesday a strategic agreement with Dana Incorporated (Dana), the global leader in drivetrain and e-propulsion systems, to make a minority investment in Switch.

As per the statement, Dana, under the agreement, will make a strategic investment in Switch Mobility and will also be a preferred supplier of electric drivetrain components for the company’s e-bus and EV commercial vehicle offering – including e-Axles, gearboxes, motors, inverters, software and controls, and electronics cooling.

It further said that with this agreement, Dana not only becomes an important supplier to Switch but will also invest $ 18 million in the company, representing an approximate 1 per cent stake.

Switch Mobility combines the electrical commercial vehicle operations of Ashok Leyland in India and Optare in the UK to secure a leading global position in net zero carbon buses and light commercial vehicles. 

In 2014, Switch introduced the first British-built, pure electric buses to London’s roads and since then has put 280 EVs on the road, clocking up over 26 million electric miles in developed and developing markets.

At around 12:57 am, the stock was up over 7 per cent at Rs 134 on the BSE, as compared to a 0.18 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. The trading volumes on the counter jumped five-fold, with a combined 53.98 million equity shares changed hands on the NSE and BSE so far.