OREANDA-NEWS. October 29, 2012. Rallis India (Rallis), a Tata enterprise and a leading player in the Indian crop protection industry, announced acquisition of 22.8 percent stake in Zero Waste Agro Organics (ZWAOPL), a Maharashtra-based organic manure and soil conditioners manufacturing company. As announced in April 2012, Rallis had entered into the definitive agreements for the acquisition of ZWAOPL. With this, Rallis completed the first closing in terms of the agreements, by acquiring the first tranche of shares comprising 22.8 percent of the equity.

Announcing the development, V Shankar, managing director and CEO, Rallis, said, “With this acquisition, Rallis has further strengthened its product portfolio with organic manure and soil conditioner products to improve deteriorating soil health and drive agriculture productivity. We are confident that with ZWAOPL as a part of our business, the organic manure business will spur the Rallis Poised growth strategy.”

ZWAOPL will be a Rallis controlled company through board representation and thus, will be a subsidiary of Rallis.

In the first phase, Rallis will invest Rs10 crore on this acquisition, which will include Rs5 crore on investment in the company and Rs5 crore for purchase of shares from the current shareholders. Rallis has rights to increase its stake to 51 percent in a year’s time as per definitive agreements.

Rallis will also have exclusive sales and marketing arrangements with ZWAOPL for domestic and international markets. Rallis has already initiated distribution of this product in its brand name GeoGreen and the product has found good acceptance with the farmers.