Synergy Capital buys Rs 2,000-cr met coke plant as ex-ArcelorMittal dealmaker bets on steel industry: Report

The acquisition aims to secure raw materials in metallurgical coke market, structurally seen to be undersupplied, ET said

Sudhir Maheshwari-led Synergy Capital has now become one of the largest independent merchant low-ash metallurgical coke producers in India after the firm acquired Saurashtra Fuel’s flagship plant in Mundra, a report by the Economic Times said on October 6.

The latest deal involving the Gujarat-based plant is its first buyout equity transaction in the country, ET said. The acquisition aims to secure raw materials in metallurgical coke market, structurally seen to be undersupplied, ET said. The investment manager is expected to shell out Rs 1,200 crore over the next three years to buy the plant from its promoters – Agarwalla and Sinha families. The total project cost, including a planned power plant, is likely to be around Rs 2,000 crore, ET said.

Maheshwari, who worked at ArcelorMittal for 27 years, assisted billionaire Lakshmi Mittal in listing his company in 1997 and also raise multi-billion dollars for the acquisition of Arcelor in 2006, the newspaper said. He was key in taking ArcelorMittal to the top of the Indian steel industry with the $34-billion deal that created the company.

The former ArcelorMittal dealmaker, who runs the Asia-focused alternative investment manager, is turning his attention to the Indian steel industry, the report said.

Moreover, the Dubai-based fund has a strategic focus on India with the deployment of $1 billion in private equity and credit across major groups and companies such as GMR, Shapoorji Pallonji and JSW Cement, Maheshwari told ET.