Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd, the country’s largest edible oil producer, has amalgamated Mac Oil Palm Ltd, a promoter group company, with itself to expand its presence in palm oil plantation in India.
The amalgamation will allow Ruchi to access Mac Oil’s exclusive procurement rights of oil palm planted on around 8,300 hectares of land in Andhra Pradesh; the potential exists to increase the area to 20,000 ha. The company has also decided to pursue implementation of MOUs signed with various state governments for promotion of cultivation of oil palm plantation.
The approximate potential area of oil palm plantation, by preliminary estimates of the company, is around 89,000 ha, which it is planning to expand up to 110,000 ha at an expenditure of Rs 200 crore, Ruchi Soya MD Dinesh Shahra said.
Twenty equity shares of Rs 2 each of Ruchi Soya would be issued for every 67 equity shares of Rs 2 each held by shareholders of Mac Oil. The share exchange ratio has been arrived at on the recommendation provided by SSPA & Co, Chartered Accountants. The Fairness Opinion Report has been provided by Fortress Capital Management Services Pvt Ltd, a merchant banker.
All assets and liabilities of Mac Oil would be transferred to Ruchi Soya.
The fully diluted equity capital of the company is 29,14,29,060 equity shares of Rs 2 each, which will increase on account of this merger to 30,64,29,060 equity shares of Rs 2 each. The promoters’ holding on a fully diluted basis will increase from 51.25 per cent to 53.64 per cent. KPMG India Pvt Ltd was tax advisor for the scheme.
Mac Oil owns a large nursery for development of oil palm saplings and an oil palm crushing mill having capacity of 86,400 tonnes per annum. It has also recently constructed another unit with a crushing capacity of 172,800 tonnes per annum, expandable to 345,600 tonnes per annum at a marginal capital expenditure.
Without specifying any time line, Shahra said, “Our long term plan is to support our 3 million tonnes oil producing capacity through backward integration of at least 50 per cent.” In India, about three tonnes of oil is the yield per ha of palm plantation, against 5-6 tonnes per ha abroad.