CETEX PETRO CHANGING HANDS
S Ilanahai, Managing Director, Chennai-based, Rs 300-crore petrochemicals manufacturer, Cetex Petrochemical, has decided to sell his stake. Confirming this to Industrial Economist, he said that the company has appointed Veda Corporate Advisors for identifying a buyer.
Ilanahai bought Cetex Petro from the RP Goenka group in 2004. Today he, along with Sacred Banyan Infra Pvt Ltd and P R Shivakumar of Chain Tools and Products Pvt Ltd, own 55.16 per cent in Ce- tex. Another company, Wayne Burt Petrochemicals, holds 44.08 per cent. Wayne Burt also manufactures other petrochemicals from its plant near Chennai; but the company is under liquidation. Also, there is a dispute between Cetex and Wayne over transfer of 4.27 per cent stake.
Cetex was set up by the RPG group in 1989 to produce petrochemicals methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) and secondary butyl alcohol (SAB), of which the company is the sole manufacturer in India; it faces competition only from imports. The plant was set up in the Manali industrial area, close to Chennai Petroleum Corporation (CPCL), the refiner, which provides the feedstock. When Ilanahai, an engineer with experience in the oil and gas industry, bought into Cetex, the company’s turnover was Rs 24 crore. Ilanahai was optimistic about taking this to Rs 400 crore next year.
FIRST INDIAN WINE CO TO COME OUT WITH IPO
Sula Vineyards Ltd is coming out with its initial public offering (IPO), the first Indian company to do so. The promoters and shareholders of the company are offering to sell 25.54 million shares, of face value of Rs 2 each, for an as-yet undisclosed price.
Rajeev Samant, set up the company in 2003, is selling his 1.71 million shares. Over the last 20 years, Sula has emerged a leader in the Indian wine industry. In 2021-22, the company achieved a turnover of Rs 456.7 crore and a net profit of Rs 52.14 crore. In 2019, Sula was the only Asian company to sell a million cases of domestically- produced wine within a span of 12 months.
Chennai-based wine connoisseur and wine investment consultant, Parveen Krishnamurthy observed that there was a time “when you talked about wine, you talked about France, Italy, Spain and Australia. Sula changed that perception of Indian wines.”
SUN SHINES IN BHARATHIYAR’S HOMETOWN
NTPC won the 230 MW solar PV project at Ettayapuram, Tirunelveli district, the birthplace of Mahakavi Bharatiyar. The project is developed under the CPSU (Central Public Sector Undertaking) scheme, Phase-II of the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy. The project is set to cost around $160 million.
NTPC won the project through Viability Gap Funding (VGF) based competitive bidding by Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) in 2019. Since NTPC was awarded the project by the government company, SECI, power generated will be sold to SECI which will sell it to other states. Tamil Nadu may get nothing.
The plant will be constructed by L&T under EPC contract. The solar plant comes up on a 1000-acre of land.
FIRST INDIAN MRNA VACCINE GETS APPROVAL
mRNA vaccine, “GEMCOVACTM-19” of GENNOVA BIOPHARMACEUTICALS LTD (GB), Pune, has received the Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). GB is engaged in R&D, production and commercialisation of biotherapeutics.
GEMCOVACTM-19 is the first mRNA vaccine developed in India and claimed as the third to be approved for Covid-19 in the world. GB aims to produce 40-50 lakh of doses per month.
