BDA advises Apar on the sale of its Polymer Division to Eliokem

Business Development Asia LLC ("BDA") is pleased to announce that Apar Industries Ltd (Apar), the diversified Indian group, has entered into an agreement with France-based Eliokem International, an AXA Private Equity portfolio company engaged in the manufacture of specialty chemicals, for the sale of Apar’s polymer business located in Valia, India. As per the terms of the agreement, Eliokem will pay a consideration of INR1.11bn (US$28m) to acquire the assets of Apar’s polymer division through a slump sale transaction.

The transaction is expected to close by 31st December 2007, after obtaining the necessary regulatory and shareholder approvals.

BDA acted as exclusive financial advisor to Apar Industries on this transaction.

The Polymer division of Apar was established in 1986. It manufactures and markets NBR and HSR elastomers under the brand names Aparene® and Powerene® respectively. In 1997, it was merged with the Specialty oils and conductors division of Apar to form Apar Industries Ltd. In 2006, Apar restructured its polymer division by consolidating the entire operations of the division at Valia and shutting down its Mumbai plant.

Dr Narendra Desai, Chairman of Apar, hailed the move as synergistic, as it will enable the company to sharpen its focus on its core strengths and offer better shareholder value. “The move is in sync with the growth strategy that the Group has set up for itself. Apar Industries will now concentrate on its core business and area of expertise which will enable the Group to grow faster, as the sale of the division releases substantial resources for allocation into focus areas. These areas include our two divisions, namely specialty oils and overhead transmission line conductors, which account for 90% of the Group’s business”, said Dr Desai.

“The integration of Apar’s Polymer Division within Eliokem should be facilitated by the long shared cooperation of both companies in the polymer business based on the emulsion polymerization technology inherited from The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company to make a variety of specialty resins, rubbers and lattices through combinations of monomers as diverse as acrylics, acrylonitrile, butadiene, styrene etc. The new efficient manufacturing platform in India will strengthen Eliokem’s growth plan both domestically as well as in the rest of the world”, stated Jacques Collonge, President & CEO of Eliokem.

“We are delighted to have played a role in this transaction”, said Rohit Singh, Director of BDA’s Mumbai office. “This represents another step forward in bringing BDA’s cross-border M&A franchise to India, and serving both Indian and foreign clients on inbound and outbound transactions. It also builds on our already well established track-record in the chemicals sector”

About Apar Industries

Apar Industries Limited (“Apar Industries” or “Apar”) is a diversified Indian industrial corporation with interests in Aluminum Conductors (accounting for 45% of sales), Specialty Oils (accounting of 45% of sales) and Polymers (accounting for 10% of sales). It is one of the largest manufacturers of Specialty oils and Aluminum conductors in India. Apar Industries is publicly traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India, with an annual consolidated turnover of INR15bn (US$350m) in FY2006-07.

About Eliokem

Eliokem, formed in 2001 as a result of the spin-off of the specialty chemicals business of The Good Year Tire & Rubber Company, is a leading specialty chemical group with headquarters in Villejust near Paris (France). The group employs more than 460 people around the world and owns 3 production facilities located at Le Havre (France), Akron (Ohio, USA) and Ningbo (China), as well as 6 representative offices in Europe, Asia and the Americas, and a network of 75 distributors and agents strategically located around the world. The company’s turnover reached €164m (US$220m) in 2006.

About BDA

Business Development Asia LLC was founded in 1996. BDA assists multinational corporate and financial sector clients to identify and execute acquisitions, divestments, JVs, restructuring and capital raising, in Asia and internationally. The company is headquartered in New York with offices in London, Bahrain, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul, and Tokyo. BDA employs 50 full-time professional staff across its eight offices, supplemented by a team of senior advisors around the world. BDA’s client list includes Air Products, Apar Industries, Cadbury Schweppes, Celestica, Dow Chemical, DuPont, Ecolab, Global Power, Great Lakes, Hercules, Huntsman, Inabata, Kimberly-Clark, Lear, Lubrizol, Mars, Morgan Stanley, Nalco, Parker Hannifin, Reuters, Rohm & Haas, Ryder, Siemens, SigmaKalon, Sumitomo Chemical, TATA Auto Components, Tenneco, Tredegar, Visteon, WR Grace, and the British Government. Further information on BDA is available at www.bdallc.com

BDA transaction team
Andrew Huntley, Managing Director
Rohit Singh, Director
Arun Bagchi, Senior Associate
Diwakar Mitr, Analyst

For more information regarding this transaction, please contact Rohit Singh in Mumbai on (91) 22 2643 0290, Andrew Huntley in London on (44) 20 7655 3500, or Euan Rellie in New York on (1) 212 265 5300.