Indian companies firm on UK & Europe

Indian companies firm on UK & Europe

From steel, energy and healthcare to food packaging, Indian firms make a mark across the UK and Europe. Tata Steel completes sale of UK mills

The UK's Liberty House Grouphas completed the purchase of two pipe mills from Tata Steel UK in north-east England. Liberty, which is part of the GFG Alliance, had signed a provisional agreement to acquire the units at Hartlepool last month and appointed top steel pipe specialist, James Annal, to head the new pipe and tube division. Sanjeev Gupta, the executive chairman of Liberty House, said the deal marked his group's plans to play a key role in the global oil and gas pipeline sector. He said: “This is an important first step in our ambition to become a world leader in energy pipe and we are already looking at plants in other countries. The acquisition of this high-calibre business and its skilled workforce gives us the basis to upgrade the liquid steel production facilities we're buying at Whyalla, South Australia, and our plate mills at Dalzell and Clydebridge in Scotland to make high-value-added API grade plates that can be rolled at Hartlepool to supply pipeline projects worldwide. “This fully-integrated value chain will make us a world leader in this field and help showcase Britain's engineering prowess in supplying a world-class highly-engineered product.” Liberty has said it intends to rebuild the previously struggling operation at Hartlepool, adding around 100 new jobs to the existing 140-strong workforce. India's energy firm to invest in UK

India's state-run Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) will invest £100 million in the UK over the next three years. EESL struck up a joint venture with EnergyPro Ltd, an advisory company in energy efficiency, and invested in EPAL, earlier a wholly-owned arm of the EnergyPro. EESL would route its investments through EPAL. EESL MD Saurabh Kumar said: “EESL has already invested 7 million pounds in the EPAL. We have 80 per cent stake in this JV whereas the remaining stake is with our partner EnergyPro Ltd. “The EESL has decided to invest 100 million pounds over the next three year. We have estimated an annual revenue of 20-25 million pounds after this investment. At present, with £7 million investment in the EPAL, the revenues are estimated at 1 million per annum for the next 15 years.” Power minister Piyush Goyal will in London this week to make a formal announcement about the investment by EESL. Sona BLW expands Hungarian plant capacity

Sona BLW Precision Forgings Ltd (SBPFL), part of India's $500-million multinational Sona Group, is expanding its production capacity at its plant in Hungary. The Hungarian plant, spread across 4,800 square metres, is the Sona Group's first greenfield manufacturing unit outside India. The facility is a downstream process unit which will increase production capacity by 40 per cent through machining and heat treatment operations. The company says the expansion programme will lead to some cost reduction. The increased production capacity will help create total capacity of 3.9 million pieces per year with a targeted annual sale of 1.5 billion Hungarian Forint. Sona Group CEO Sunjay Kapur said: “Our Hungary plant expansion offers us advantages to maintain cost-efficiency, transfer of certain aspects of our production and also remain close to the market.” Bengaluru firm to set up in London

Bengaluru-headquartered RxPrism plans to set up a regional innovation hub in London to expand its footprint in the UK and Europe. The global healthcare-focused digital marketing and customer engagement services and solutions provider is among 20 start-ups selected in this year's India Emerging 20 (IE20) programme, which supports Indian companies to grow their international business via London. Dr Maruthi Viswanathan, Founder- CEO of RxPrism Health Systems, said: “London was an immediate choice as the place is appropriately positioned to cover the US and APAC time zones. We have already registered our subsidiary in the UK. Therefore, we aim to complete this expansion plan in about three months from now and get the UK centre functional by this October-December.” The firm is planning to invest $2 million over two years, a part of which would come from the company's innovation fund and the rest from UKbased venture capitalists. The company is set to create over 250 job opportunities for software developers and creative specialists in the next two years, with 30 per cent of this strength working in its R&D lab. Jindal Poly Films to acquire Dutch firm

Indian packaging films maker Jindal Poly Films Ltd has agreed to acquire the Netherlands-based Apeldoorn Flexible Packaging Holding BV for an enterprise value of €82.3 million euros in cash. The transaction will require antitrust approvals in the Netherlands and Germany and is likely to be closed by the end of September, Jindal Poly said in a stock exchange filing in India. It added that the acquisition would be made through its JPF Netherlands BV unit. Jindal Poly Films said the acquisition will help it increase its product offerings by adding load security films. The deal will also strengthen its relationship with brand owners in the food,beverage and fast-moving consumer goods segments. The company added that it aims to expand its differentiated product offerings in the packaging films business globally. Apeldoorn was set up in 2014 and besides load security films, it makes bread and cheese packaging films. Its consolidated revenue was €111 million euros for the calendar year 2016. LT Foods opens Netherlands unit

India's leading basmati rice firm, LT Foods, has commenced operations of its first rice processing plant at Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The company, which sells basmati rice under the Daawat brand, has invested $15 million in the plant with an initial capacity of 60,000 tonnes. The plant is aimed at expanding the company's geographical footprint in the markets of Europe and the UK by increasing its sales from the current 5,000 tonnes to 60,000 tonnes over the next three years. LT Foods CEO and Managing Director Ashwani Arora said: "Europe and UK are critical markets for LT Foods for our future growth and we intend to make deep inroads in these markets by making our most popular rice brand Daawat a household name. "The location of the plant was also critical for us as Rotterdam will provide us easy access to whole of Europe and UK. We want to exponentially increase our geographical reach and product portfolio in these markets by offering our food products." The new plant will manufacture a wide range of rice, including popular varieties such as Basmati, Thai, Jasmine and American rice. The company has already launched Daawat in six countries this year as part of plans to expand its product offerings and portfolio globally.

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