Mumbai, Dec. 14: The Mahindra group today said it would acquire Pininfarina, the Italian automotive and industrial designer, in an all-cash deal.

Milan-listed Pininfarina, which has designed cars for Ferrari, Maserati, Rolls-Royce and Cadillac, is the latest Italian industrial brand to be snapped up by an Asian buyer. In March, China National Chemical Corp agreed to buy into tyre-maker Pirelli in a 7.3 billion euro deal.

Mahindra will do the deal via a new unit in which auto maker Mahindra & Mahindra will hold 40 per cent and Tech Mahindra, the IT outsourcing arm, will own the remaining 60 per cent.

The SPV will purchase 76.06 per cent of Pininfarina's shares from the controlling shareholder Pincar S.r.l. at a 1.1 euro per share, totalling 25.3 million euros (Rs 186 crore).

The SPV would also make an open offer to the public shareholders of Pininfarina for the remaining 23.94 per cent stake at a price of 1.1 euro per share. Besides, the SPV will infuse an equal amount into Pininfarina through a rights issue. The acquisition cost, excluding the rights issue, will come to 33 million euros (Rs 242 crore) if the open offer is fully subscribed.

Mahindra will also provide a guarantee worth up to 114.5 million euros to the car designer's lenders, creditors and lessors.

Pininfarina, which owes its name to the nickname of its founder Battista Farina, who was known as "Pinin" Farina, had a net debt of 47.4 million euros at the end of September. It had revenues of around 86.6 million euros in 2014. In a statement to the bourses, M&M said the transaction was expected to close within the "first semester'' of 2016.

"Pininfarina will add enormous value to Tech Mahindra's portfolio of engineering services. Adding Pininfarina's design skills to our integrated engineering solutions enables a strong entry into automotive styling, design & development and reinforces our body engineering capabilities," Anand Mahindra, chairman of Mahindra Group, said.