Tata Chem completes $1,005 mln acquisition of General Chemicals

New Delhi, Mar 27 (UNI) Tata Chemicals Ltd today said after fulfilling all necessary regulatory requirements and approvals, it has successfully completed the acquisition of General Chemical Industrial Products Inc (General Chemicals) in the US for a total consideration 1,005 million dollars.

General Chemicals is one of the largest Soda Ash producers in the US with a capacity of 2.5 million TPA of natural Soda Ash.

The company's mining and manufacturing facilities located at Green River Basin in Wyoming, USA.

The acquisition of General Chemicals takes Tata Chemicals total global capacity up from around three million tonnes to around 5.5 Million Tonnes of Soda Ash per annum.

Tata Chemicals Ltd had in 2005-06 acquired the Brunner Mond Group of Companies, a leading producer of Soda Ash with a presence in the UK, Netherlands and Kenya.

Tata Chemicals Ltd now enjoys a unique advantage of having majority of its capacity from natural Soda Ash, which is not only cheaper but more environmentally-friendly than Soda Ash made by the synthetic route.

The acquisition also gives Tata Chemicals Ltd, access to two of the lowest cost natural Soda Ash reserves in the world (Wyoming, US and Magadi, Kenya).

With this acquisition, Tata Chemicals Ltd now has manufacturing locations in four continents and access to consumers around the world, including new markets it was not earlier like North America, Latin America and certain markets in the Far East.

Tata Chemicals Ltd has funded the said acquisition through a mixture of term financing (ECB) of 500 million dollars and bridge financing (in the US) of 350 million dollars, raising a total of 850 million dollars at very competitive rates.

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