In a move that will pave the way for Japan’s Kokuyo Co Ltd to become a strategic investor, Mumbai-based Camlin Ltd will announce a stake sale with it tomorrow.
Kokuyo is a 100-year-old stationery, furniture and design group with a $3-billion annual turnover. Camlin already has a distribution tie-up with Kokuyo in notebooks.
But the relationship will now move to the next stage as the latter, listed on the Japanese exchanges, will get a 51 per cent stake in Camlin through a series of staggered transactions.
To begin with, the Dandekar family, the promoters of Camlin, will sell a part of their 38 per cent stake, retaining 12 per cent.
Initially, Kokuyo will hold around 25 per cent, but will have to make an open offer to buy another 20 per cent. Depending on the offer’s success, a preferential allotment will be made to enable Kokuyo to take its stake to 51 per cent.
The deal, persons in the know say, is being done at Rs 110-115 per share. This means a valuation of two times Camlin’s estimated 2010-11 sales of Rs 370 crore or 25 times its estimated 2010-11 earnings before interest, depreciation, taxation and amortisation (Ebitda).
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While three sections of the Dandekar family will exit, Dilip Dandekar, chairman & managing director, and his nephew, Shriram S Dandekar, executive director, will continue in non-executive roles.
Kokuyo will retain the Camlin and Camel brands, especially in segments where Camlin already has a presence. But it may introduce its own products such as Campus notebooks, Airofit scissors, Dotliner adhesive dispensers and its furniture line.
Together, Kokuyo and Camlin intend moving to markets across Asia with the help of manufacturing hubs in India and China. Some of Camlin’s products, already popular in Sri Lanka, will get an export push, persons in the know said. The stock of Camlin was up 1.26 per cent on Friday to close trade at Rs 80.15. Camlin shares have been running up for the paste month amid a stake-sale buzz.