Agro-sciences firm PI Industries Ltd has signed an agreement with Italian company Isagro SpA to acquire its wholly owned Asian subsidiary.
The Indian company will acquire Isagro Asia for Rs 345 crore ($49 million at current exchanges rates), PI Industries said in a stock-exchange filing on Friday.
The acquisition will help meet growing demand from international customers by getting access to additional manufacturing capacities of Isagro Asia, it added.
PI Industries said it sees growth opportunities across its businesses and is looking strengthen its position in Indian market.
The acquisition is likely to be completed by the end of December, subject to closing formalities and regulatory approvals.
This is the first major acquisition by PI Industries since it sold PI Polymer, its engineering plastics business, to France’s Rhodia SA in December 2010 for Rs 70 crore ($15.47 million then).
Founded in 1947, PI Industries makes complex chemistry solutions in agri-sciences. It owns and operates three formulation facilities and nine multi-product plants located across three manufacturing locations.
The company, which has more than 2,300 employees, aims to increase its revenue to an estimated Rs 3,345 crore and net profit at Rs 569 crore for the fiscal year ending March 2020.
The company has been previously backed by Standard Chartered Private Equity, Sequoia Capital and Cartica Capital.
StanChart PE invested about Rs 50 crore in October 2009 and exited via multiple tranches with four-fold returns three years later.
A part of its stake was bought in August 2011 by Sequoia, which went to make about five-fold returns on its four-year investment.
