Eternis Fine Chemicals Ltd, an aroma chemicals maker founded by Rajen Mariwala of the Marico promoter family, has acquired AIMS Impex Pvt. Ltd for an undisclosed sum.
AIMS is a market leader in synthetic coumarin, a popular fragrance ingredient, in India. AIMS was founded in 1989 by Shiv Sanwal. After Sanwal’s death last year, his son Anand Sanwal, co-founder and chief executive of US-based data analytics company CB Insights, was managing the firm. The acquisition, a first for Eternis, will help it strengthen the firm’s presence in the coumarin market.
“This acquisition complements Eternis’s own coumarin capacity, which has been significantly expanded recently. We intend to fully support and strengthen the AIMS facilities so that together we are in an even better position to offer our customers a significant and sustainable source of coumarin from India,” said Mariwala, managing director of Eternis.
Eternis is one of the largest aroma chemical makers in India, and claims to be among the top 10 aroma chemical companies globally. The company started selling aroma chemicals in 1988. Today, Eternis is a $100 million revenue company, catering to all the major global flavours and fragrance companies with over 80% of its revenue coming from exports.
Avendus Capital advised Eternis on the acquisition.
According to Koushik Bhattacharya, director at Avendus Capital, the acquisition AIMS has a lot of strategic value for Eternis and will help it become the market leader in coumarin.
“The major product AIMs manufactures is coumarin, a fragrance chemical. Coumarin has an anti-dumping duty in India, by virtue of which it is isolated from Chinese imports which typically plagues these kinds of industries. And in the domestic market, AIMS is the largest manufacturer of this chemical and has almost 50% of the market share,” said Bhattacharya.
Eternis will leverage its customer network and export capabilities to grow the business going ahead, he said.
“The rationale for Eternis is to become the market leader in coumarin. They will make use of AIMS manufacturing expertise, quality and combine it with their export capabilities. They will use their network of customers, export capability to grow this. Also, there is enough leeway to expand the existing facility,” Bhattacharya said.
Source: Mint