India's Tata Chemicals recently announced it had completed the acquisition of US-based soda ash maker General Chemical Industrial Products, making it the world's second-largest soda ash maker after Solvay. Tata Chemicals will now have an annual soda ash capacity of 5.5M/tonnes. The company has raised $500M in a 6y overseas loan & US-$350M in the form of a 6m bridge loan. It raised another US$125M through sale of investment in group firm Tata Consultancy Services Ltd & Tata Investment Corp. "The acquisition gives us access to 150 major customers around the world & opens up huge opportunities on the marketing front," Homi Khusrokhan, MD at Tata told reporters. "We are in talks for a term loan in place of the bridge finance, to be raised on General Chemical's books."General Chemical will add $400M to company revenue & $120M operating profit in 2008/09," Khusrokhan said. In January, Tata Chemicals agreed to buy General Chemical for $1 billion, giving it access to low-cost natural soda ash reserves and a presence in the North American market. Tata Chemicals shares ended 0.7 percent lower at 272.05 rupees in a Mumbai market that closed down 0.4 percent. (Reporting by Prashant Mehra; editing by Sunil Nair)
