Premji Invest Acquires Controlling Stake In Specialty Aroma Chemicals, Best Value Chem

Baroda-based Best Value Chem (BVC) has said Premji Invest has agreed to acquire a controlling stake in the Company. The transaction involves the selling of stake by existing shareholders and a commitment to infuse the primary capital for capacity expansion to meet increasing demand from its global customers. Founded in 1997, BVC is a manufacturer of speciality aroma chemicals in India.

The Company’s customers include all major players of the F&F industry (Flavours and Fragrances) like Firmenich, Symrise, Takasago and global, large FMCG players.

BVC is owned by a group of investors led by Sanjay Patel, a Chartered Accountant and his family along with Mr Shaju C.O, as the CEO. The Company has a young and entrepreneurial team that has recorded stellar growth in the last ten years under the leadership of Shaju.  It has consistently delivered high-quality ingredients to global customers in the F&F industry. Post-transaction, Mr Shaju will continue to lead the company as the CEO and would also be a minority stakeholder in the company.

Premji Invest is the investment arm of Azim Premji's endowment and philanthropic initiatives. It has been active in investing in the Indian markets for over ten years with large investment corpus. The focus of investments has been to grow medium-sized Indian companies into large companies that can compete globally. Investments of Premji Invest is across sectors like consumer, financials, technology, and manufacturing and to name a few include, Fab India, Hygienic Research, ID foods, Lenskart, Policy Bazaar, Flipkart, Gold Plus Glass and Shubham Housing. 

Premji Invest is excited to partner with the BVC team to help them scale to the next level of growth. The Indian consumer industry will grow significantly over the next decade. It needs companies like BVC to meet their high-quality requirements. There is a tremendous export opportunity for Indian players in global F&F market as it is at the cusp of accelerated growth. Premji Invest believes BVC and the tailwinds of the Indian chemical industry provide great opportunity to create a mega platform in the F&F and Pharma ingredients space.

Commenting on the deal, Mr Sanjay Patel, Major investor of BVC, said, "over the last two decades, BVC has not only made products but created a brand with sheer zeal to establish it globally. Our philosophy is to run our operations with passion, honesty, sincerity and hard work. The shareholders are happy to hand over the responsibility of the Company and its business they have built along with Shaju to Premji Invest. Shaju will be able to scale the operations faster and make BVC a global brand." 

Shaju, CEO, BVC, said, “India is at the tipping point of growth in manufacturing of specialty chemicals and aroma chemicals in particular due to favourable government policies for Make in India and the creation of chemical parks. Recent supply chain disruption from China, including events related to COVID and an increase in domestic demand for end-use applications, are acting as significant drivers of growth for the industry. With Premji Invest backing us, we look forward to expanding our capacity and meeting the increasing demand from our global customers. We intend to move up the value chain and consolidate our position in the Indian Aroma Chemical market."

Sustainability is a core component of Symrise' business model. Our corporate strategy integrates economic ambitions with our four sustainability approaches: footprint, innovation, sourcing & care. In this way, we ensure long-term-oriented value creation and allow all of our stakeholders to participate in the company's success. One key area for us is sourcing, a key aspect of this is our desire to work closely with our suppliers in different areas which promote synergies.  Best Value has been a solid partner for us on this journey supplying to our various global locations quality products at competitive prices maintaining a high service level in meeting our needs. Their approach to Sustainable Business development approach resonates well. We look forward to grow the relationship further between the 2 companies.  Our best wishes to the Best Value family” said Ramkumar Venkataraman, Vice President  - Global Sustainable Sourcing, Purchasing, Asia Pacific, Scent & Care Division, Symrise.