Agrochemicals company Safex Chemicals India Ltd has bought Mumbai-based Shogun Organics Ltd, marking its second acquisition so far.
The move, said a release, will help Delhi-based Safex do a backward integration into the agrochemical technical segment and enter the home care and technical manufacturing categories.
Promoters of Safex -- SK Chaudhary, Neeraj Jindal, Rajesh Jindal and Piyush Jindal -- will join the board of Shogun. Mid-market-focused investment bank Investec advised Safex on the transaction.
“Home care technicals is an attractive market and Shogun has consistently maintained more than 50% market share in the segment,” said Piyush.
Earlier last month Safex raised nearly $50 million from homegrown private equity firm ChrysCapital. The transaction also saw early backer BanyanTree exit the company.
In its first acquisition, Safex had bought a plant in Kathua (Jammu and Kashmir) in 2015.
Founded in 1991 by the late SK Jindal and SK Chaudhary, the firm manufactures and sells branded agrochemicals for protection and productivity of crops.
Safex is amongst the fastest growing agrochemical companies in India with a 26% revenue CAGR (compound annual growth rate) over the past four years, said the statement. Currently, it has a pan-India presence with a network spanning 10,000 plus distributors across 17 states.
Safex has a portfolio of over 100 products across insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, micronutrients, pesticides and plant growth regulators. The company operates five manufacturing facilities across India.
Agrochemical deals
In December, Anupam Rasayan India Ltd, which makes agrochemicals, polymers and other speciality chemicals, filed its draft papers for an initial public offering (IPO).
In November, Heranba Industries, a Gujarat-based agrochemicals company that makes crop protection products, received a regulatory approval for its IPO after its earlier attempt to go public in 2018-19 failed to materialise.
In September, two Tokyo-based companies jointly picked up a majority stake in agrochemical company Bharat Insecticides Ltd. 
In June 2020, Goa-based Zuari Agro Chemicals Ltd, which is part of the Saroj Poddar-led Adventz Group, announced the sale of its fertiliser plant to Paradeep Phosphates Ltd.
In January 2020, Crystal Crop Protection Ltd, earlier backed by Everstone Capital, acquired three insecticide brands from US-based Corteva Agriscience.