Agrochemical firm United Phosphorus is eyeing more acquisitions in Latin America and East Europe to expand its footprint in the global market, a top company official said here.
"UPL is on the lookout for acquiring more companies, technology, products and product registrations across the globe. We are looking at acquisitions in Latin America and have identified some companies in East Europe, as we see these as some of the key focus areas for the company," United Phosphorus Chairman and Managing Director Rajju Shroff told PTI here.
Brazil is set to become big market in two-year's time, and it will overtake the US market, Shroff said, adding some of the East European markets are also growing fast.
"We look for the giant companies and we look for the smaller companies having turnover of Rs 50-100 crore. We bought two companies in Argentina, and added two more plants in that country. In Japan, we have jointly put in a big marketing team, but the products are sold through our 100 per cent subsidiary," Shroff said.
Commenting on the impact of current downward trend in the world economy, Shroff said, "It will help in cutting down our acquisition costs."
He said that despite the economic slowdown there was enough demand for pestcides. "We are fortunate that despite the slowdown there was a shortage of pesticides. The products sold at $4 has shot up to $12-14... However, some of the products prices crashed too, but we were fortunate that prices of our products have not crashed," he said.