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The Times of India Online
India Business
Dhampur Sugar bids for mills of Jamaica
26 Sep, 2006 0055hr
MUMBAI: One of India's leading sugar producers, Dhampur Sugar Mills has bid for five West Indian mills put on the block by the Jamaican government.
If successful, the Rs 730-crore Dhampur will be the first Indian company to buy a sugar mill abroad.
Gaurav Goel, managing director of Dhampur Sugar, confirmed that the company has put in an expression of interest for the Jamaican mills and added that the bidding process is expected to take place in the next few months.
The process got delayed because of elections there. Goel, however, refused to reveal the size of the deal.
Interestingly, Goel would not restrict Dhampur to sugar making in the West Indian island, where the company has been present since 2004 as technical advisor to the Sugar Company of Jamaica.
He also intends to make and sell ethanol and the globally popular Jamaican rum if he gets the Caribbean mills. Demand for the clean-burning ethanol, which is dehydrated rectified spirit, is rising as fuel sellers are increasingly using it to mix with gasoline.
Goel said acquisition would give the company an opportunity to expand operations and margins. Dhampur will also gain sugarcane acreage if it bags the deal.
Though cane prices in Jamaica are pretty much the same as in India, the cost of production is lower there. Besides, a protocol with Europe gives preferential access to sugar produced in the Caribbean.
India Business
Dhampur Sugar bids for mills of Jamaica
26 Sep, 2006 0055hr
MUMBAI: One of India's leading sugar producers, Dhampur Sugar Mills has bid for five West Indian mills put on the block by the Jamaican government.
If successful, the Rs 730-crore Dhampur will be the first Indian company to buy a sugar mill abroad.
Gaurav Goel, managing director of Dhampur Sugar, confirmed that the company has put in an expression of interest for the Jamaican mills and added that the bidding process is expected to take place in the next few months.
The process got delayed because of elections there. Goel, however, refused to reveal the size of the deal.
Interestingly, Goel would not restrict Dhampur to sugar making in the West Indian island, where the company has been present since 2004 as technical advisor to the Sugar Company of Jamaica.
He also intends to make and sell ethanol and the globally popular Jamaican rum if he gets the Caribbean mills. Demand for the clean-burning ethanol, which is dehydrated rectified spirit, is rising as fuel sellers are increasingly using it to mix with gasoline.
Goel said acquisition would give the company an opportunity to expand operations and margins. Dhampur will also gain sugarcane acreage if it bags the deal.
Though cane prices in Jamaica are pretty much the same as in India, the cost of production is lower there. Besides, a protocol with Europe gives preferential access to sugar produced in the Caribbean.