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Solvay buys into Indian surfactants
Sunshield will accelerate Novecare business’s growth
Solvay has agreed to acquire a controlling interest in Sunshield Chemicals, an Indian producer of surfactants, from the Amit Choksey Group, which has decided to focus more on pigments. The deal is expected to be complete within three months. Sunshield had sales of €13.5 million in the financial year to March 2012. The sale price was not specifically disclosed but was said to be less than nine times Sunshield’s estimated adjusted EBITDA for the current year.
The company said that this would enable its Novecare global business unit, which was acquired as part of Rhodia and had net sales of about €1.6 billion in 2011, to accelerate its growth plans in India for the home and personal care, agrochemicals, coatings and general industrial markets. Sunshield makes surfactants for all of these applications, as well as textiles, lubricants, plastics, metal treatment, at its site near Mumbai.
Earlier, Solvay had opened a new innovation centre in Savli in Gujarat state. This was part of a drive to double business levels in India by 2015. In 2011, the company turned over €180 million there, employing about 900 people at seven production sites.