The company bought Alimtec, a key raw material supplier for its US arm, for 1.9 million Euro

Murugappa Group firm EID Parrt (India) Ltd has acquired Alimtec SA, a Chile based company of Bayer Group , for 1.9 million Euro, in order to ensure surety of raw material supply for its US subsidiary, US Nutraceuticals.

“We have bought 100 per cent stake in Alimtec for 1.9 million Euro, from Bayer Group. The company has been one of the important supplier of raw materials for us,” said V Suri, chief financial officer, EID Parry (India) Ltd.

The acquisition is by way of purchase of the stake from Bayer Finance and Portfolio Management SA and Nunhems Chile SA, subsidiaries of Bayer AG. With the acquisition, the company would ensure reliable sourcing of Astaxanthin (HA), a raw material from algae, used in food supplements by US Nutraceuticals.

Alimtec was one of the major suppliers of the raw material to the company and when they were looking for a buyer for the company and EID Parry stepped in to ensure enough raw material supply, he added.

At present there are very few companies which produce the raw materials, and almost 10 metric tonne of the total 40 metric tonne requirement of HA by US Nutraceuticals is met by the Chile-based firm. The facility also has potential to scale up production, which would in turn help the company to scale up sales in the US firm, as the market demand is high, he said.

The acquisition will culminate in value creation for nutraceutical business and the entire production of Alimtec will be used by the US firm for its Astaxanthin products catering to USA and Europe Markets, announced the company. The acquisition would also immediately bring in around 10-15 per cent cost reduction in production of food supplements in which HA is an ingredient, said the company.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> Companies> News / BS Reporter / Chennai – April 25th, 2014