FDBusiness.com

India-based Tata Chemicals has entered the UK food market with the £93m acquisition of British Salt, Britain’s leading manufacturer of pure dried vacuum salt products with 50% market share. Tata Chemicals is the market leader in packaged salts in India with more than half the total market consuming Tata brands.

The £93m acquisition has been made through Tata Chemicals’ subsidiary Brunner Mond, Britain’s largest soda ash producer and the second biggest in Europe. Headquartered in Northwich, UK, where it also has two manufacturing plants (see picture), Brunner Mond became part of Tata Chemicals in 2006.

British Salt owns brine wells in the UK with a residual life of 50 years. The acquisition provides an opportunity to secure long-term brine supplies for Brunner Mond operations. Apart from its core business of salt manufacturing and supplying, British Salt is also active in the gas storage business, which has the potential to generate additional cash flows.

“The acquisition is in line with the strategy of Tata Chemicals to deepen its presence in the food and farm sectors and will result in securitising raw material for Brunner Mond operations,” says R Mukundan, managing director of Tata Chemicals. “The combined entity will improve the overall financial position of our European operations.”