Praj Inds buys stake in Neela Systems/news07012012

Praj Industries has acquired 50.20% stake in water treatment systems maker - Neela Systems Ltd for Rs 64 crore. Neela Systems will continue to operate as an independent entity.

Mumbai based Neela Systems was founded by Himanshu Shah in 1989. The company supplies water treatment and modular process systems to biotech, pharma and personal care industries. It has a manufacturing facility at Wada.

It caters to clients such as Johnson & Johnson India, ITC Ltd., Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd., Jain Irrigation Systems, L'Oreal India, Aurobindo Pharma Ltd., and Strides Arcolab. The company has a turnover of approximately Rs90Cr including exports.

Praj Industries, promoted by Pramod Chaudhari and Shashank Inamdar was incorporated as Praj Counseltech Pvt in 1985, it's name was changed to the current one in 1993. Praj is in the business of process designing, engineering, fabrication, and commissioning bio-fuels plants, brewery plants, waste water treatment plants, and process equipment and systems.

There have been a number of deals in water treatment space in the recent past. Last month, Matrix Partners India invested Rs 22 crore in water purification solutions provider Waterlife India Pvt. Before that in May'11, Doshion Veolia Water Solutions acquired 100% stake in Gondwana Engineers from Pune-based Kirloskar Brothers, for Rs 47.44 crore.

Voltas was also talking to Wipro for acquiring it's water treatment and purification business, as Wipro is looking to exit smaller businesses that are facing increased competition and are not easily scalable. Wipro has mandated Anand Rathi to find a suitor for the water treatment business.

Other major players in the water treatment business include - VATech, Ion Exchange, Thermax, Hindustan Dorr-Oliver and Driplex.Techpro systems is also entering water treatment business by acquiring 100% stake in Chennai-based Ambika Projects (India) Pvt Ltd for Rs 10.30 crore.
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