Private equity firm Everstone Capital has invested Rs 150 crore in Crystal Crop Protection Pvt Ltd, a Delhi-based manufacturer of crop protection chemicals, the firm announced on Wednesday.
VCCircle was the first to report the deal on November 3rd.
Headquartered in Delhi, Crystal Crop Production is engaged in the business of pesticide formulations, products like fungicides, insecticides, herbicides, seeds besides agri-equipment such as spray pumps among other categories. Founded by first generation entrepreneur NK Aggarwal in 1983, the agro- chemical company is now run actively by his son Ankur Aggarwal who spearheads the operations.
The firm has manufacturing facilities in Jammu and Haryana and employs 600 people.
The capital raised will be primarily used to help Crystal further consolidate its position in the Indian market, strengthen its presence in the international markets, enhance its existing product portfolio, and explore inorganic growth opportunities in India and abroad, the firm said on Wednesday.
“India has the largest area under cultivation for many crops but productivity is significantly lower than world averages – with increased industrialisation and urbanisation, productivity improvements are a necessity to meet India’s food requirements. Crystal is well positioned to take advantage of this requirement and has an attractive business model backed by a respectable management team that can build Crystal into one of India's foremost crop protection and agri-services Company,” said Dhanpal Jhaveri, partner and CEO, Everstone Capital.
Everstone Capital that manages over $1.5 billion in capital, across two PE funds, one real estate fund and one industrial warehousing fund, was co-founded by Sameer Sain and Atul Kapur who remain the firm’s managing partners. It recently closed a $580 million PE fund for the Indian market.
