Tata Chemicals to buy US-based company for over one billion dollars

Tata Chemicals Limited today said that it has signed a pact to buy the US-based General Chemical Industrial Products Inc. for 1.005 billion dollars.

Mumbai, Jan 31 : Tata Chemicals Limited today said that it has signed a pact to buy the US-based General Chemical Industrial Products Inc. for 1.005 billion dollars.

The Indian chemicals maker said the General Chemical Industrial Products is a major soda ash producer in the US with a capacity of 2.5 million metric tons a year.

"This is a timely acquisition from an Indian viewpoint. We are picking up US asset at a time when the Indian rupee is strong. It's strategically important for us as a group. This particular acquisition is going to change the fortune of Tata Chemical," said, Managing Director Homi Khusrokhan.

"The acquisition will be funded through a mix of debt and equity," added Khusrokhan.

Tata Chemicals Executive Vice-President R. Mukundan said the company has acquired annual revenue of nearly 400 million dollars.

The acquisition will lead to a sizeable increase in Tata Chemicals' global soda ash capacity, making it one of the largest soda ash producers, the company said in a statement.

The company mainly supplies soda ash in North America, Latin America and the Far East, which complement its existing markets.

General Chemical Industrial Products has facilities located at the Green River Basin in Wyoming, which gives it access to the world's largest trona ore deposits that are then converted into soda ash.

Tata Chemicals, which gets about 40 per cent of its consolidated revenue from the soda ash business, currently has a combined capacity of 2.9 million tons a year.

The company acquired UK-based soda ash maker Brunner Mond for GBP65 million in 2005.

ANI