Italian electric motor component maker EuroGroup Laminations is buying a 40% stake in India’s Kumar Precision Stampings, the company said shortly after announcing a preliminary agreement for a strategic electric vehicle sector alliance in China.

Milan-based EuroGroup Laminations (EGLA) – which specialises in stators and rotors, two key components of electric motors and generators – supplies manufacturers in the automotive and wider industrial sectors.

Its clients include Volkswagen, Renault , Ford, GM and a major undisclosed U.S.-based maker of electric vehicles (EVs).

EGLA said late on Thursday that it would invest a total of 19.9 million euros for the stake in Kumar, which also produces stators and rotors for electric motors for a number of industrial applications, allowing the Italian company to enter the Indian market.

As part of the deal, which is expected to complete by the end of the year, EGLA will sign a shareholder agreement giving it control over Kumar, it said.

Just hours earlier, and following this week’s visit to China by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, EGLA announced an agreement with Chinese automotive component firm Hixih Rubber Industry Group.

Meloni spoke during her visit of the need for Italy to boost cooperation with the world’s second largest economy and get trade on a more balanced footing.

The new agreement aims to create an EGLA-controlled joint venture, with the company saying it aimed to further stimulate growth in the Chinese market in order to increase commercial penetration, in particular with EV manufacturers.

A new R&D centre for innovative technologies will be built at Hixih Group’s industrial base in the Shandong province, along with a new high-tech industrial plant for the production of motor cores for manufacturers of New Energy Vehicles. EGLA already has two production facilities in China, one for its EV & Automotive business unit and the other for its industrial business unit.