A buyer for an empty building
Salcomp, a Finnish company that makes phone chargers and counts Apple among its customers, already had units in Chennai and Noida. In late 2019 it agreed to take over the shut Nokia plant in the Sriperumbudur SEZ. It said most of the output would be exported.
“The Nokia factory is revived”
In 2020, six years after the shutdown, commercial production began. The Chief Minister opened it by video link. Salcomp had paid about ₹215 crore for the plant and put about ₹1,800 crore into new capacity, making chargers and parts for phones and accessories.
“The Nokia factory is revived,” its India managing director said. About 10,000 jobs were expected at the site.
“The Nokia factory is revived.”
Buying a building, and everything around it
A new factory takes years: land, approvals, power, roads, training. Salcomp bought a finished building inside an SEZ, on a highway, near a port, in a town full of people who already knew how to build phones. It paid for the shell and inherited the rest.
Points for a finance reader
- A distressed asset can be a bargain. About ₹215 crore bought a ready plant that would cost far more and take years to build new.
- Buy where the skills already are. Trained people cut start-up time and training cost.
- Export spreads the risk. Selling to many buyers abroad avoided Nokia’s one-customer trap.