Aries Agro Ltd to open new manufacture facility at Hyderabad

Hyderabad, Apr 18 (UNI) Aries Agro Limited (AAL), a specially micronutrient company, today said it plans to triple its production capacity to 95400 tonnes annually by the end of 2007 with an investment of Rs 54 crore.

The company plans to set up manufacturing facilities at Ahmedabad and Lucknow and upscale the Hyderabad unit to 32400 tonnes per annum. It has units at Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore besides Hyderabad, which together produce 21000 tonne of micronutrients per annum.

The new facility in Pashamylaram Industrial area of Hyderabad will be mainly dedicated for manufacturing Aries' two flagship brands, namely, 'Aries Agromin Max' and 'Aries Chelamin'. The plant will be using the specially-fabricated machinary for this purpose.

Speaking on the occasion, AAL Executive Director Rahul Mirchandani said alongwith the two major products, AAL will also manufacture formulations for soil applications in this facility.

These formulations will cater to the markets in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Orissa.

The first phase of the plant measuring 24000 sq.ft. will be utilised for handling product lines of plant nutrition, plant protection and seeds. The project is expected to commence its operations by December, 2007.

AAL proposes an Initial Public Offer (IPO) of its equity shares and has in early April 2007 filed a Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with SEBI, NSE and BSE. The Company expects the IPO to be through over the next three months and plans to raise about Rs 54 crore to part finance its expansion and to set up a Joint Venture in UAE where it wants to acquire 75 per cent stakes in a company with Rs 7.2 crores.

UNI