Suryajyoti partners Pangea to set up fabric plant

New Delhi, June 5:Suryajyoti Spinning Mills Ltd today said it has tied-up with Italy-based Pangea SRL to set up the country's first speciality bottom wear fabric facility worth Rs 104.5 crore at Kurcharkal in Andhra Pradesh.

The company has started civil work at the proposed site and expects the project to be commissioned in the second half of fiscal 2008, a statement said.

Commenting on the alliance, Executive Director of the company A K Agarwal said, ''Our association with Pangea gives us an avenue to provide high fashion, low cost options to some of the best known designer brands in the world. We are confident that the specialty bottom weight fabric initiative will add substantial value to all our stakeholders over the long term.'' The project is being financed largely through debt, available to the company and through the proceeds from a FCCB issue.

The company is expected to manufacture 20 million metres of bottom wear fabrics.

The unit will produce the bottom wear fabric having both special and normal finishes. In the third year of production, specialty finished bottom weight fabric, which commands significant premium in the international market is expected to comprise more than half the output and two-thirds of the revenue from this venture.

The bottom weight fabric initiative between the company and Pangea will be structured as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV).

The facility will house weaving, dyeing and finishing capabilities. There will be 48 airjet and 24 rapier looms for weaving bottom wear fabrics. Coating and foaming machines will be used to give the special finishes to bottom wear fabric.

Pangea SRL serves the requirements of many major global fashion labels including discerning high-fashion Italian and global brands like Dolce and Gabbana, Marlboro Classics, Versace, Giorgio Armani, Roberto Cavali, Diesel and Reply, among others The fabric manufactured under the SPV will be sold in India and overseas under a brand name 'Pangea Fabrics.' The major customers in the domestic market will be the Export houses who cater to the needs of US and EU markets in the bottom wear. Other domestic customers will be the likes of Cantabils, TNG's, Lee Cooper's, Black Berry, Louis Philippe, Allen Solly, Levis Strauss, Color Plus, Zodiac, Arrow, Van Heusen, Dockers etc, the domestic brands operating in the Indian markets.

UNI