News from Notch Consulting, Inc.

On Monday, Sify Finance reported that RPG’s group chairman had confirmed to reporters that Phillips Carbon Black Ltd. was pursuing its bid to acquire Germany-based Evonik Carbon Black, the world’s second largest carbon black maker.

“Is it an opportunity (Evonik acquisition) that you should let go off?” RPG group chairman Sanjiv Goenka said while talking to reporters here Monday.

As reported here last week, Evonik has short-listed a group of around six bidders for the second round of bidding, which is expected to commence next month. This group includes buyout firms including Advent International, Triton Partners and Rhone Capital, as well as strategic buyers including Phillips Carbon Black Ltd., Aditya Birla Group, and Cabot Corporation.

On Monday, January 31, Birla Group announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Columbian Chemicals for $875 million.

Kumar Mangalam Birla’s diversified conglomerate pipped rival bids, including one by the Kolkata-based PCBL, to acquire Columbian Chemicals.

The Aditya Birla Group announced today that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Columbian Chemicals Company from One Equity Partners, a unit of JP Morgan Chase. The acquisition is being carried out through Birla’s subsidiaries Alexandria Carbon Black, Thai Carbon Black, and SKI Investment.

The press release did not include details of the transaction, but Money Control put the price at $875 million, on a zero debt basis. The deal is expected to be completed by mid-2011.

While addressing the press, Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said the group hoped to complete the deal by mid-2011. This transaction has been done by privately held companies of the Aditya Birla group. Birla pointed out that the transaction will be done through three of the companies. One is Alexandria which is an Egypt-based company for the AV Birla Group there which has some operation in the Egyptian market as far as Carbon Black is concerned. Then you have the Thai Carbon and then SKI Investment, a holding company in the Aditya Birla Group. The total transaction value, as he said, is USD 875 million and will be on a zero debt basis.

The transaction will make the new Birla/Columbian the largest carbon black producer in the world, with 1.98 million tonnes/year of capacity, compared to 1.91 million tonnes/year for Cabot and 1.36 million tonnes/year for Evonik Carbon Black.

Here is the press release.