Singapore's Olam buys into India's Hemarus

Olam International, a Singapore-based supplier of agri and food commodities, is acquiring India-based Hemarus Industries for US$73.8m.

According to a statement, the deal involves a cash payment of $8m and part assumption of debt of approximately US$66m upon completion of the acquisition.

The deal will give Olam a sugar milling facility with a capacity of 3,500 tons crush per day (TCD) and the company said it will further invest US$6.6m to enhance the sugar milling capacity to 5,000 TCD.

Olam said it expects Hemarus to contribute revenues of US$90-$100m, with an expected return on equity of 32 per cent.

The company has said that the acquisition is in line with its stated strategic objective of building an annual sugarcane crush capacity of between 2-2.5 million tons over the course of the next five years.