Morgan Stanley Private Equity acquires minority stake in Biotor India

Mumbai: Morgan Stanley yesterdsay said that its Asia private equity group, Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia, has invested Rs182 crore (approximately $38.5 million) for a ''significant'' minority stake in the world's largest integrated manufacturer of castor oil and castor derivatives Biotor Industries Limited. It did not disclose the extent of the stake it has acquired. s. This is Morgan Stanley Private Equity's first investment in India.

According to Morgan Stanley, Biotor is the world's largest fully-integrated manufacturer of castor oils and castor derivatives, with operations across the entire value chain from contract farming of castor seeds to wholly owned retailing operations in Europe and the United States.

''This investment in Biotor represents Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia's strategy to invest in companies with exceptional management teams and unique competitive advantages,'' said Chin Chou, managing director and Head, Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia. ''We are also pleased to be making our first investment in India. Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia raised a $1.5 billion dedicated fund for Asia last year and we expect to deploy a significant amount of the fund in India over the next two years.''

Biotor's managing director Rajesh Kapadia, said, ''India produces over 75 per cent of the global castor crop and thus has a unique competitive advantage, which has benefited us. As the industry leader, we are investing heavily in R&D, biofuels, new derivatives and developing hybrid seeds in order to take advantage of these opportunities.''

On the stake sale Kapadia said ''Our partnership with Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia will provide us access to Morgan Stanley's global franchise and relationships, which we believe will prove invaluable as we aim to increase our international presence.''

Aluri Rao, managing director, Morgan Stanley, said, ''We are excited about the prospects of the science of producing chemicals from agri-raw materials, known as chemurgy. Biotor is well positioned to benefit from this trend towards green chemicals. It is a unique company with strong entrepreneurial vision and value systems. Over the past two years Biotor has successfully executed its strategy to move downstream into castor derivatives and direct-marketing of its products.''