INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - JUNE - JULY - 2007
The Month that was ...

HIMATSINGKA BUYS US CO FOR $53 M

BANGALORE-BASED textile maker Himatsingka Seide has acquired 80% stake in Divatex Home Fashions of the US for $53 million. The acquisition was made by its wholly-owned subsidiary, Himatsingka America. New York-based Divatex is among the top three distributors of bed linen products in the US. It reported revenues of $151 million for the year ended December 2006 with an EBITDA of $14 million.

Himatsingka believes the acquisition would bring significant synergies for sourcing requirements from its new bed linen facility at the Hassan Special Economic Zone in Karnataka. The facility has commenced trial production and is likely to commence commercial production in July 2007.

"Having completed two international acquisitions of Giuseppe Bellora and Divatex with combined revenues of approximately Rs 800 crore and the commencement of production at the Rs 400 crore bed linen facility, the company is positioned to achieve consolidated annualised revenues of over Rs 1,000 crore. We will continue to explore opportunities for inorganic growth in the branded home textile space," said Himatsingka Seide executive director Shrikant Himatsingka. Himatsingka Seide had acquired Giuseppe Bellora SpA, Italy in February 2007. Himatsingka has been following a strategy to forward integrate globally by acquiring high end brands and large distribution networks in the home textile space.