Soros fund buys stake in Guj Ambuja Exports

Soros Fund Management LLC has picked up 5.8% stake in Ahmedabad-based Gujarat Ambuja Exports (GAEL).

Soros Fund Management LLC has picked up the stake through its hedge fund Quantum Fund.

Vijay Gupta, chairman and managing director, GAEL, said: "Analysts from Quantum had come to meet us over a year ago and did an extensive study of our businesses. They must have found good value, which explains their big exposure to our company."

The stake taken by Quantum has surpassed the 3.9% stake bought by Reliance Mutual Fund, which was the first among the major funds to identify the company as a growth-oriented stock.

The company manufactures maize starch, liquid glucose, sorbitol 70% solution, defatted soya flour, deoiled cakes, rapeseed castor, groundnut meals, edible oils, cotton yarn, and wheat flour.

The upcoming projects of the company include greenfield and brownfield addition of capacities in solvent extraction, edible oil refining and maize processing.  The Uttaranchal project of maize processing with a capacity of 500 tonne per day is expected to be operational by the second week of December. 

On the solvent extraction business, Gupta said that high prices of many commodities globally had benefited the solvent extraction business and boosted the profit margin from 2-3% to 8%. "The capacity utilisation has also doubled from 40% to 80%," he added.

The company, which reported a turnover of Rs 1,400 crore in 2006-07, is expecting sales of Rs 2,000 crore in the current fiscal.