Rallis India Limited acquires majority stake in Metahelix Life Sciences

Mumbai : Rallis India Limited, a subsidiary of Tata Chemicals Limited, on Thursday announced acquisition of a majority stake of 53.5% in Metahelix Life Sciences, a Bangalore-based Seeds research company.

The acquisition is an all cash deal of Rs 99.5 crore, funded largely through internal accruals.

Rallis, one of India?s leading agrochemicals companies, will subscribe to an additional equity of Rs 25 crore to increase its stake in Metahelix to 59.02% on a fully diluted basis. Furthermore, pursuant to the terms of the definitive agreements signed, Rallis will enhance its shareholding to 100% in Metahelix over a period of five years.

Speaking on the occasion, V. Shankar, Managing Director & CEO, Rallis India said, ?This acquisition aims at predominantly driving the agricultural productivity and yield enhancement in the country.

Farmer adoption of good hybrid seeds is rapidly growing and with this new acquired strength, Rallis will be in a firm position to provide a trustworthy portfolio of seeds to the Indian Farmers.?

The competencies of Rallis in terms of farmer relationships and channel partnerships would also leverage the offerings from Metahelix.

The offerings will supplement the Rallis portfolio and the robust distribution channel available through the Tata Kisan Sansar (TKS) platform will enable a wider reach. This also is an opportunity to drive the synergies that exist between Rallis and Tata Chemicals Limited.

Elaborating on the business prospects, Shankar said, ?We believe that the revenues from the entity will exceed Rs 1000 crore cumulatively over a 5-year period. The deal works out to twice the projected revenues of next year.?

During the financial year 2009-10, Rallis had posted Net Profit of Rs 101 crore and Revenues of Rs 933 crore.