Founded in New Delhi in 1991, Safex manufactures and supplies crop protection chemicals. Briar is Safex’s first overseas acquisition.

NEW DELHI: Agro-chemical firm Safex Chemicals India Ltd on Tuesday said it has acquired UK-based Briar Chemicals for 73 million pounds from pan-European alternative investment firm AURELIUS Equity Opportunities.

Briar Chemicals, based in Norwich, is UK’s leading agrochemicals Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation (CDMO) solutions provider and serves the world’s innovative agrochemicals companies. It was formed as a carve-out transaction from Bayer CropScience in 2012. The company operates from a 115-acre manufacturing site consisting of lab to large scale reactors, with available space and infrastructure for future expansion.

Founded in New Delhi in 1991, Safex is a leading Indian manufacturer and supplier of the most advanced crop protection chemicals. Safex is backed by private equity firm ChrysCapital.

Neeraj Jindal, director, Safex, has joined the board of Briar Chemicals and will steer the future growth of the company.

“We are delighted to enter the UK by acquiring the country’s pre-eminent independent agrochemical CDMO provider," said Piyush Jindal, director, Safex. “The addition of Briar to Safex’s crop protection business strengthens our position in the global agrochemicals market.

Briar is Safex’s first overseas acquisition and forms part of the company’s strategy for global expansion in step with the substantial growth of the worldwide agrochemicals market, which is set to increase in value by over 11% from $62.3 billion in 2022 to $69.4 billion in 2026.

Safex was advised on the transaction by Investec (Corporate Finance), KPMG (Financial and Tax DD), Bird & Bird (Legal), Bodhi Tree (Debt Advisor), RK & Associates (Commercial DD) and Girish Kshirsagar (Technical DD). R Hariharan (agrochemical industry advisor) assisted in key areas of market sizing, regulatory aspects and the competitive landscape.

AURELIUS was advised on the transaction by DC Advisory, Deloitte (Financial), Travers Smith (Legal), EY (Tax), NexantECA (Commercial), and Birketts (Property).

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