Meghmani set for Singapore listing

The Ahmedabad-based pigment and pesticides manufacturer Meghmani Organics Ltd is set to become the first Indian company to be listed on the Singapore Exchange.

The company's public issue to raise Rs 78 crore opened on July 30 and closes on August 5.

Meghmani is offering 100,400,000 Singapore depository shares (SDSs) at an invitation price of Singapore $0.28 each.

Jayanti Patel, executive chairman, Meghmani, said, "We have chosen Singapore as it is going to be the financial capital of Asia."

While Meghmani has assigned PricewaterhouseCoopers Corporate Finance Pte Ltd as the issue manager, DBS Bank will be the underwriter and issue placement agent.

The flagship of the Rs 500 crore Meghmani group exports products to 46 countries. Last financial year, 83 per cent of its earnings in the pigment business came through exports, mostly to the US, and 53 per cent of its agrochemical products were exported.

Meghmani has four manufacturing plants "" two in Ahmedabad, one in Bharuch and one agrochemical plant in Ankleshwar.

"We will use Rs 47 crore from the issue to expand our Ankleshwar plant. We also want a bigger play in the pesticide formulations segment, which is the market for branded products," said Patel.