Punjab Chem

PUNJAB Chemicals and Crop Protection appears to be on an inorganic growth path. After making two acquisitions last year, the Chandigarh-based company is back in news with talks of another buyout. Dealers tracking the counter say the company is believed to be in advanced stages of negotiations with a US-based entity to acquire its agrochemicals product portfolio.

The deal value is expected to be in the range of $15-20 million. Only last year, the company acquired Agrichem Netherlands for around $60 million after buying out Argentina-based Sintesis Quimica for $10 million. It had also entered into a joint venture with a USbased agrochemical entity to increase its presence in the US market.
The stock has gained close to 45% in the last one month. On Tuesday, trading in the stock was frozen at the upper end of the 5% intra-day circuit filter at Rs 286.65. The stock, incidentally, had touched its 52-week high of Rs 303.25 on July 31. More than a lakh shares changed hands, higher than the two-week average of around 72,000 shares