GHCL - More Acquisation

GHCL Acquires BEST MANUFACTURING GROUP Of USA

GHCL Ltd has announced that the Company has acquired BEST MANUFACTURING GROUP of USA for a consideration of US $ 35 million through its international subsidiary GHCL Inc.

Best is the Leading manufacturer and distributors of Home textiles and certain related items for the hospitality & healthcare sector in USA.

Best is headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey with satellite operations strategically located across the, Canada, Mexico and Asia. The Company has two manufacturing plants, one each in Combodia and Mexico along with 8 warehouses across USA. Best Manufacturing has a top-line of about US$ 160 Million.

Total Acquisition cost of $35 million dollars being funded by existing lenders of Dan River and NOT through current cash flows of the Company. This demonstrates the confidence being developed by the lenders in Dan River.

Dan River before this acquisition, owns and operated warehousing network of 1.25 million sq. ft, in-house designing capability and also has an over 200 strong multi-sourcing team in place and has its own brands and branding capabilities. With the acquisition of BEST the current top line of Dan River will go from $250 million (including the earlier HW Baker acquisition) to a Top Line of $ 400 million dollars.

Mr. Sanjay Dalmia, Chairman of the Company said,

"Best Manufacturing's acquisition proves our (GHCL) growing acceptability of the strategy being put in place even in the most competitive home textiles market of the world-USA".

This further strengthens our position in the largest home textiles market of USA provides us with an ideal opportunity to leverage Best's global platform and a renowned global brand in order to make GHCL one of the dominant player in the Home textile space globally.

With the acquisition of BEST Manufacturing Group Dan River is the only Company in the world which will cater to the All the 3 Segments that is 1) Retail Chain in the US; 2) Hotel and Restaurant industry; 3) Hospital Industry. We are soon going to expand the operations for all the 3 sectors into other parts of the world also, so that we can service these industries globally, including our own."

"It would be ideal combination of low cost strong manufacturing base with a large established marketing platform to put us on the fast track growth".

Earlier in the month of December 2006, Dan River Inc. a step down subsidiary of the Company had acquired assets of H W Baker Lenin Co. having a turnover of US Dollar $70 million in the US through competitive bidding process for US Dollar 6.75 million.

H.W. Baker Linen Co. of USA, a leading supplier of textile products, amenities and guest room supplies to hotels and motels across USA.

Baker is a division of the Best Manufacturing Group supplying textile and non-textile products including Sheets, Terry Lenins, Blankets, Pillows, Pillow cases and amenities to some of the leading hotels in US.

With Current Clients of Dan River predominantly being the Retailers such as Walmart, K- Mart, JC Penny etc, it further added a direct client base of the Institutional segment such as Starwood, Hilton, Four Seasons, it will further extend its client base by an additional customer base of over 900 customers with the some prominent names like:

- United Airlines, Morgan Services, Admiral Linen, National Linen and Walt Diseney - In the Institutional Segment; &

- Hackensacks, Angelica, Image First and Unitex— in the Healthcare Segment.

Post these acquisitions, the process of Restructuring the Businesses will gather further momentum and the Company is in the process of taking the above structure to the Global Financial market for value unlocking for the Indian Shareholders.

GHCL - More Acquisition

GHCL Arm Acquires H W Baker

Dan River, a step down subsidiary of textiles and soda ash maker GHCL Ltd, has acquired the assets of H W Baker Lenin Co in US for $ 6.75 million (Rs 30.09 crore) through competitive bidding process.

H W Baker Lenin Co is engaged in the business of supplying textile products and amenities to hotels and motels in the United States. It is a division of the Best Manufacturing Group, a supplier of textile and non-textile products.

“The acquisition would strengthen Dan River’s position in the fast growing hospitality industry in the USA,” said Sanjay Dalmia, chairman, GHCL, a part of Dalmia Group. The move would help GHCL become a dominant player in the home textile industry in the US as well as the global market, he said. "It would be an ideal combination of a strong and low-cost manufacturing base and a large established marketing platform," Dalmia added.

A year ago, GHCL, through its internationsl subsidiary, had acquired Dan River Inc, a leading textiles player in the US, for $17.50 million. It also acquired 100 per cent shares of UK-based home textiles retailer, Rosebys, in June this year.

GHCL - More Acquisitions In The Offing

GHCL To Acquire Soda Ash Plants In US, China

GHCL Ltd, flagship company of the Dalmia Group, is all set for a series of acquisitions for soda ash plants in the US and China which would enable it to cater to the demand of the local soda ash market a big way. Sanjay Dalmia, chairman of GHCL said, “We will be acquiring soda ash plants in US and China.” He further said, “We have targeted a few of the soda ash companies in these countries but the finalisation is yet to be done.” The acquisition of soda ash plants will allow the company to cater the local demands in US and China. “The talks are in progress and we expect that the deal will be finalised before the end of first quarter of 2007,” said Dalmia. The company follows calendar year for its accounting purpose. He further said, “We will acquire one each soda ash plants in US and China.” When asked the kind of production capacity of soda ash plant it would be acquiring in China and US, Dalmia said, “The production capacity depends upon the deal that works out with the targeted companies.”

According to him, the targeted companies in US and China has different production capacity, so its hard to give exact figure on the production capacity that the company intends to acquire. The overseas acquisition of soda ash plants in US and China by GHCL will be its second major acquisition after it acquired a majority stake of 65 percent in S C Bega Upsom SA, a leading soda ash manufacturer in Romania.

GHCL is also increasing its soda ash capacity from 6,00,000 MTPA to 11,00,000 MTPA in its Indian plant at Gujarat. The company has also signed a definitive agreement to acquire the second and only other plant in Romania thereby set to increase its capacity to 7,00,000 MTPA capacity.

The company has registered a growth of six percent in net profit in the this quarter ended on 30 September, 2006. The net profit increased to Rs 24.71 crore this quarter FY 2006 compared to Rs 23.43 crore of corresponding quarter of last year. While the net sales jumped by 17 percent this quarter.

Recently in the month of June 2006, GHCL acquired Rosebys, UK’s largest home textile retail chain company, for $40 million. The company acquired 100 per cent of the shares of Rosebys. Rosebys has a strong presence in bedding, curtains and kids garments with more than 300 retail outlets across the UK and an annual turnover of close to $250 million. More than 2,000 people are currently being employed by Rosebys in the UK. GHCL had also acquired Dan River Inc, a leading textiles player in the US, for $17.50 million. GHCL, through its international subsidiary, had acquire over 90 per cent of Dan River. With Dan River acquisition, GHCL got excess to enter the existing marketing arrangements to the tune of $250 million and the US-based company will be used primarily as a marketing arm. Dan River has an annual turnover of about $250 million and caters to mega retailers such as JC Penny, Wal-Mart, Linen & Things and Bed, Bath and Beyond.