Jayant Agro enters strategic joint venture with Arkema

Jayant Agro, castor oil and castor based derivatives manufacturer, has entered into a joint venture agreement with Arkema, a global chemical company to form a strategic joint venture through Jayant Agro's subsidiary, Ihsedu Agrochem.

The joint venture will be focused on manufacturing various industrial and specialty grades of castor oil.

The joint venture has been unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of Jayant Agro and Ihsedu in their respective meetings held on April 11, 2013.  It is expected that the closing will be achieved after completion of the necessary transaction related commitments. Pursuant to the joint venture, Arkema will acquire around 25 percent equity stake in Ihsedu.

Through this joint venture with Arkema, which is the largest consumer of castor oil, Jayant Agro and its subsidiary Ihsedu will further consolidate their position in the castor oil market as a leading, consistent and reliable supplier to the world market.

As part of the joint venture arrangement, Ihsedu will exclusively focus on manufacturing and sales of all grades of castor oil and Jayant Agro will exclusively focus on manufacturing and sales of  value added castor oil products.

For Arkema, this joint venture further cements the group's strategy to develop its specialty polyamides from castor oil in fast growing applications, based on secure and reliable source of supply. Arkema is one of the leading players in the castor oil sector with the manufacture of its bio-sourced specialty polyamides.

Abhay V Udeshi – Director, Jayant Agro states "It is Jayant Agro’s vision to provide secured volumes of its various castor oil and castor oil based derivatives to all its global customers for various applications which includes paints, inks, lubes, cosmetics, pharma, adhesives, bio-sourced polyamides, etc. Castor oil, being a renewable and natural product is considered as a strategic raw material in the areas of 'Green Chemistry'. Arkema’s investment in our castor oil segment is thus an important step in augmenting our efforts to achieve this vision. This venture further strengthens our relationship of over 50 years with Arkema."

Lionel Guerdoux – Managing Director, Specialty Polyamides - Arkema "This partnership is a critical step to consolidate the Arkema leading position in bio-sourced specialty polyamides. This will support the growth of our long chain polyamides 10 and 11 more specifically in the applications such as offshore flexible pipes or light materials for automotive."

BMR Advisors was the transaction advisor to the Jayant Agro group and J Sagar Associates was the legal advisor to the group.