Kolkata-headquartered Hindusthan National Glass & Industries Ltd (HNG) will acquire the assets of Agenda Glass AG in Germany from the insolvency administrator at a consideration of €50 million (approximately Rs 321 crore). This is HNG's first manufacturing venture abroad.
The assets of Agenda Glass will be acquired by HNG Global GmbH – a fully owned subsidiary of HNG. A sale and purchase agreement (SPA) in this regard was signed on May 11. According to a company release, the acquisition will be funded by a combination of debt and equity.
Located in Gardelegen in Germany, Agenda was founded in 2008. The company's 320-tonne plant for manufacturing green and white glass for food and beverages sector began commercial production in February 2010. It was during the same month that the company went into bankruptcy proceedings.
“Through this acquisition, we plan to enter into container glass manufacturing segment in the international market,” the Vice- Chairman and Managing Director of HNG was quoted as saying in the release.
“We will be following a high path in the next three years. The inorganic growth in building manufacturing presence in the international market is crucial to HNG's vision to become one of the top-15 glass packaging companies worldwide,” he added.
Market share
The Rs 1,360-crore, HNG controls 55 per cent of the Indian glass container market with a production capacity of 2,825 tonnes per day (tpd) from six facilities. The company has grown significantly in recent times, through acquisition of Owens Brockway (Rishikesh and Puducherry), L&T's Nashik plant and Neemrana unit of Haryana Sheet Glass.
In addition, HNG is now setting up a Rs 700-crore glass manufacturing complex – dubbed as the largest in South East Asia – at Naidupeta in Andhra Pradesh.
Overall, the group has earmarked a Rs 2,500-crore investment plan in both greenfield and brownfield projects to double the Indian capacities in three years.
On Thursday, the Hindusthan National Glass stock ended up 2.11 per cent at Rs 215.40 on the BSE.