Making its first overseas buy, Kolkata-based container glass manufacturer Hindusthan National Glass Company (HNG) on Thursday announced its plans to buy a German company Agenda Glas AG in an asset deal, entailing an investment of about Rs.321 crore (50 million euro) over one year, including an acquisition price of 40 million euro and an investment in the plant, Mukul Somany, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of HNG said. The funding would be through debt and equity.
HNG said in a release that the German company which began commercial production in February 2010, faced bankruptcy within a year and its assets were being acquired by HNG Global GmbH, a 100 per cent subsidiary. The target company's production capacity is 320 tonnes daily.
Mr. Somany said that through this acquisition, HNG planned to make a foray into the international container glass segment, which dovetails with its growth plan over the next three years. In India, the company has been looking at organic growth through green and brownfield expansions with an investment of Rs.2,500 crore.
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HNG has export presence in over 23 countries including Europe, the U.S. and the UAE. In India, it is planning to ramp up production from 7.85 lakh tonnes in the last fiscal to 12 lakh tonnes in the current fiscal. On the anvil are capacity expansion plans and a new unit at Naidupeta in Andhra Pradesh and at the Nashik plant in Maharashtra.
HNG makes a wide range of glass bottles ranging from 5 ml to 3,200 ml with applications in the liquor, beer, beverages, pharmaceutical processes and cosmetic industries. It has acquired units in India in the past and of its units within the country, the ones at Rishikesh and Puducherry are those acquired from Owens Brockway. Its Nashik unit was bought from L&T while its Neemrana unit was acquired from Haryana Sheet Glass. It also has units in Rishra in West Bengal and Bahadurgarh in Haryana.