Agrochemicals major UPL, which has been on an acquisition spree in recent years, has announced yet another deal, involving Yoloo (Laoting) Biotechnology, a Chinese agrochemicals firm, for a reported consideration of around Rs 95 crore.
In July 2018, the city-based company had announced its largest acquisition of the US-based Arysta LifeScience for USD 4.2 billion, catapulting it among the top five agrochemicals players globally with over YSD 5 billion in combined revenue and around USD 1 billion in pretax profit.
The deal with the Chinese company will be executed through one of UPL’s Hong Kong subsidiaries, a statement from UPL said on Monday.
UPL will acquire 100 percent shares of Laoting Yoloo based in the Heibei province for an undisclosed amount and in turn will issue 25 percent shares of its Hong Kong subsidiary to Beijing Yoloo.
But UPL source said they will USD 13.3 million or around Rs 95 crore for the deal.
Laoting Yoloo has over 100 product registrations, about 1,200 distributor contacts and over 240 employees.
The transaction is conditional to receiving necessary regulatory approvals and fulfilling other conditions.
“Our goal is to create an open network for agriculture, activating connections across the world’s agriculture system. It aims to power new levels of sustainable growth –for farmers, for producers, for customers, for partners and for societies everywhere. The acquisition will enhance our ability to achieve this purpose,” UPL Global chief executive Jai Shroff said.
It can be noted that in February this year, UPL had completed acquisition of UD-based Arysta LifeScience for USD 4.2 billion, elevating UPL’s position in the global agricultural solutions market with USD5 billion in combined sales and pretax profit of around USD1 billion. The deal was announced in July 2018.
The deal was done after UPL raised USD 3 billion bank loan and USD1.2 billion equity investment from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and TPG.
UPL is strong in India, the Americas, Western Europe and Arysta’s strength is in Africa, Russia and Eastern Europe, providing it a global platform for 13,000 products from the new entity.
Source: Economic Times