Himadri Chemicals drops plan to buy Rutgers

Anurag Choudhary, CEO, Himadri.

KOLKATA, INDIA: The Kolkata-based Himadri Chemicals & Industries Ltd has dropped its plans to acquire German company Rutgers. Like Himadri, Rutgers also makes coal tar pitch (CTP) distillates, and has been in this business for about 160 years. This was Himadri’s second attempt at acquiring the company. It had backed out of a bid made in 2007, when the government-controlled company was being divested. Himadri was among the two finalists. However, it withdrew in January 2008, following reservations about the company’s valuation.

Himadri had recently completed the due diligence to find out what Rutgers did since 2007. Rutgers Chemicals and Koppers are major CTP players and are now among the international competitors of Himadri. The valuation was pegged at around $600 million. Its other products include carbon black chemical oils, advanced carbon material, naphthalene and sulfonated naphthalene formaldehyde, used in producing ready mix concrete. “This time, too, we found that the valuation was too high, especially in view of the uncertainties in Europe,” said Anurag Choudhary, CEO, Himadri.

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