PremjiInvest, the family investment office of Wipro Ltd founder chairman Azim Premji, is acquiring a controlling stake in Baroda-based speciality aroma chemicals company Best Value Chem (BVC) Pvt. Ltd.
In February, VCCircle had first reported that PremjiInvest was sniffing around a Gujarat-based company that makes aromatic chemicals in a rare deal that may give it a majority stake.
The transaction involves the selling of stake by shareholders and a commitment to infuse primary capital for capacity expansion to meet increasing demand from global customers.
The financial details were not disclosed.
Founded in 1997, BVC is a manufacturer of speciality aroma chemicals in India. Its customers include major players of the F&F industry (flavours and fragrances) like Firmenich, Symrise, Takasago and large global FMCG firms.
BVC is owned by a group of investors led by Sanjay Patel and his family along with Shaju CO as the CEO. After the transaction, Shaju will continue to lead the company as the CEO and would also be a minority stakeholder.
BVC is primarily engaged in the manufacture of fragrance ingredients, which are used as raw materials for consumer products as well as fine fragrances.
It has two manufacturing sites near Vadodara.
PremjiInvest, which has been investing in Indian markets for over ten years, focuses on growing medium-sized Indian companies into large companies.
It invests in sectors like consumer, financials, technology, and manufacturing and some of its investments include Fabindia, Hygienic Research, Lenskart, PolicyBazaar, Flipkart, Gold Plus Glass and Shubham Housing.
Other recent fragrance and flavours deals include Firmenich's acquisition of VKL Seasoning and Puig SL's investment in Kama Ayurveda Pvt. Ltd.
In mid-2019, Fairchem Speciality Ltd, a Mumbai-listed chemicals maker backed by Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Group, started a restructuring exercise to sharpen focus on its main businesses.