Private Equity

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Agro-chemicals firm UPL attracts $500-M from KKR, Brookfield, ADIA, TPG

BSE Disclosures   Economic Times   BSE Disclosures  

Mumbai-headquartered, publicly listed agrochemicals company UPL Ltd.is to raise USD 500 million across two subsidiaries from two new Private Equity (PE) investors KKR and Brookfield and existing PE backers TPG Capital and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA). KKR is investing INR 2,460 crore (USD 300 million) in Advanta Enterprises, which will specialise in seeds technology, for a 13.33% stake. ADIA, Brookfield and TPG will acquire a 9.09% stake in UPL SAS-India Agtech Platform for INR 1,580 crore (USD 200 million). UPL-SAS will include the India crop protection business SWAL, Adarsh Farm Services and the Nurture digital platform. ADIA and TPG will exit the non-crop protection business of UPL Corp - i.e., the International Seeds business and other global non-crop protection businesses (Decco, Animal Health and Health & Nutrition) in return for USD 241 million. (In 2018, UPL Corp had attracted USD 1.2 Billion from the two investors, the proceeds of which was used to finance the acquisition of US-based Arysta Life Sciences for USD 4.2 Billion.) Under the current restructuring, UPL Corp will divest the international seeds business to Advanta Enterprises. The fresh capital is expected to help unlock value in the subsidiaries, create scaled platforms, simplify structures and capitalise the units besides reducing net debt levels. The current market capitalisation of UPL Ltd. is about INR 53,471.72 crore (USD 6.46 Billion).