Herdillia Chemicals, Schenectady's new acquisition in India, is planning to merge Schenectady Specialities Asia Pvt with the company.
Schenectady Specialities is a group firm with the same line of businesses. The merger is expected to bring down the number of subsidiaries of Herdillia and may reduce overheads, senior Herdillia executives said.
The board of Herdillia Chemicals will meet on July 24 to consider the proposal, it informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. The board will also approve the unaudited results for the quarter ended June 30, 2002.
Recently, Schenectady, the US-based chemicals major increased its stake in Herdillia Chemicals to 81 per cent from 61 per cent via a preferential allotment.
For the purpose, Schenectady Holdings Inc, the US firms' Indian arm, infused Rs 24 crore into Herdillia, earlier a Duncan Goenka group company. The infusion is expected to help the company fund its expansion and modernisation plans.
The company is continuing its efforts for further enhancing the capacities of Phenol and Acetone by modernisation and expansion, keeping in view the international norms for minimum economic plant sizes. Various options are being considered in this respect.
During 1999-2000, the project for enhancing the capacity of phenol and acetone plants to 34,000 MT/year and 20,400 MT/year, respectively, was completed by resorting to knowledge engineering with minimum capital expenditure. It is also increasing its capacity of alkyl phenols.
Herdillia Chemicals reported a net profit of Rs 3.71 crore on a turnover of Rs 310 crore during 2000-01. Total production during the year at 99,616 mt was achieved despite severe liquidity crunch which hindered timely availability of raw materials.
