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Thursday, March 13, 2008

Alok acquires 50% of Ashford

Textile firm Alok Industries has picked up a 50 per cent stake in Ashford Infotech Ltd through its wholly owned subsidiary Alok Infrastructure. Ashford Infotech is part of the UK-based Ashford group.
Ashford Infotech recently acquired Ceat Ltd’s 6.92-acre land at Bhandup, Mumbai, for around Rs 130 crore. The company will develop the land jointly with Alok Industries.
“We are still doing a feasibility study. We will primarily look at commercial development on the land. We wanted to go into such a project with a partner who has enough domain expertise in the field, which is why we entered into this joint venture with Ashford Infotech,” said Sunil . Khandelwal, chief financial officer of Alok Industries.
The company plans to raise Rs 600 crore by diluting a 20 per cent stake in Alok Infrastructure to a private equity player.
The company wants to use the money to expand its realty business in the country.
Alok Industries posted a 16.49 per cent rise in its net profit at Rs 43.17 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2007, compared with Rs 37.06 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.
Net sales rose 14.76 per cent to Rs 550.78 crore from Rs 479.92 crore in the year-ago period.
Exports during the quarter grew 61.90 per cent to Rs 251.41 crore from Rs 155.29 crore.
Tyre manufacturer Ceat Ltd is the flagship company of Rs 13,500-crore RPG Group.
According to reports, the proceeds of the sale will help in the expansion of the company.
The transaction will not affect Ceat’s existing tyre manufacturing operations or its employees.
The company’s ongoing operations will continue on the 24-acre land it has near Bhandup.

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