Seconderabad, AP, India
January 4, 2008
Advanta India Limited
announced that it has acquired the vegetable seed business of
Unicorn Seeds Ltd. Unicorn Seeds is one of the pioneering and
top companies among vegetable seed companies in India. Its
products are known by the brand names 'Grower's choice' and
'Prestige' among the vegetable farmers in India.
Unicorn has a strong presence in
the domestic and export markets of vegetable seeds. Unicorn also
undertakes the custom production of vegetable seeds for
customers all around the globe.
The revenue size of the business
of Unicorn for the last full year was about Rs. 25 Crores, with
a high EBITDA earning capacity.
With this acquisition, Advanta's
platform in vegetable seed will become stronger with crops added
to its current vegetable portfolio (Golden). With the added
products like melon and cucumber from Unicorn, the combined
vegetable portfolio (Golden and Unicorn) will make Advanta a
significant player in the vegetable seed market.
"We hope to leverage the strong
brand equity of Unicorn, its excellent breeding programs and
outstanding production capabilities to create a leadership
position for ourselves in this market segment", said Mr. V.R.
Kaudinya, C.E.O. of Advanta.
Unicorn Seeds is headquartered in
Hyderabad. It has its R&D facilities in Bangalore and Hyderabad,
and the production activities are concentrated in Karnataka. The
marketing network of Unicorn is strong and is spread across the
country.
Unicorn's key crops are tomato,
eggplant, hot pepper, okra, muskmelon, cucumber and watermelon.
Unicorn is significantly engaged in custom production for key
vegetable seed suppliers in Europe, Asia and the United States.
"We believe that this divestiture
will create a breeding and technology platform which will help
the rapid growth of the business and better career prospects for
our employees", said Mr Amul Sanghani, Managing Director of
Unicorn Seeds.
Advanta is an India based global seed company that combines
the benefits of agricultural biotechnology with the proprietary
crop genetics and excellent breeding capabilities of the company
to offer world class high quality seed products and solutions to
the farmers in different parts of the world. It markets a broad
range grain and forage sorghum products throughout the Indian
sub continent, Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe, and Latin
America. Advanta has over 700 employees and is represented in
more than 30 countries. Advanta is a member of the United
Phosphorous Group of Companies. |
