Rain Commod buys Ruetgers for Rs4,905 cr

Leading calcined petroleum coke (CPC) manufacturer Rain Commodities has closed a deal to acquire Belgium-based coal tar pitch maker Ruetgers NV.

Rain CII, a subsidiary of the Hyderabad-based company, will acquire Ruetgers for an enterprise value of €702 million, or around Rs4,905 crore.

Rain is acquiring 100% of Ruetgers from its private equity owner Triton Partners.

For over 160 years, Ruetgers has been manufacturing basic and specialty chemicals. It uses a by-product of the coal coking process to produce essential raw materials for the aluminium and steel industries as well as technical oils, naphthalene and other basic chemicals.

The company has around 1,000 employees at eight international production sites and had gross revenues of €831 million for the year ended December 2011.

Rain Commodities, along with its subsidiaries, is engaged in production and sale of CPC, cement, co-generation of energy and trading of fuel-grade green petroleum coke. Rain has CPC plants in the US, India and China. It sells CPC primarily to global customers in the aluminium, steel and titanium-dioxide industries.

Rain has a capacity to produce 2.49 million tonne of CPC per annum.

“Acquisition of Ruetgers is complementary to Rain’s core business of CPC. Expanding into tar distillation business constitutes both product and geographical diversification to Rain group and provides vertical depth within its core business,” Rain said in a statement.

According to the company, Rain CII is planning to fund the transaction through a combination of internal cash accrual and issue proceeds of its €533 million of long-term bonds.

Subject to regulatory approvals, the deal is expected to close by the first quarter of 2013.