Tata Chemicals to acquire Allied Silica

On Sunday, April 8, Tata Chemicals (Mumbai, India) announced it had signed a pact with Allied Silica Limited (Chennai, India) to acquire its precipitated silica business for Rs123 crore (US$19M) on a slump sale basis.

The deal is expected to close within three months, the company said in a release. The acquisition is a part of the Rs295 crore investment approved by the board in February last year, towards this specialty business, the company said.

The business transfer agreement with Allied Silica includes the acquisition of an existing manufacturing site in Tamil Nadu, which will produce highly dispersible silica (HDS), the release said. The specialty chemical product represents a downstream value addition to Tata Chemicals soda ash business, where it ranks among the top manufacturers globally, it added.

“This acquisition is another step in our journey to build technologically enabled, differentiated businesses, with greater customer centricity, by leveraging our core strengths. “The manufacture of speciality and performance silicas is one such area. This is in line with our focus to grow our specialty business, along with our consumer business,” said Tata Chemicals managing director R. Mukundan.

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In related silica news, this week Notch Consulting will publish the latest issue of the Silica Market Update, which covers the global market for precipitated silica. The report provides data on demand, applications, market share, and pricing, as well as a discussion of the above-mentioned acquisition and other capacity developments. For more information, contact info @ notchconsulting.com