Agro-chemical firm Safex Chemicals India Ltd has acquired the UK-based Briar Chemicals for £ 73 million from pan-European alternative investment firm AureliuS Equity Opportunities. Briar Chemicals, based in Norwich, is UK’s leading agrochemicals contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) solutions provider and serves the world’s innovative agrochemicals companies. It was formed as a carve-out transaction from Bayer CropScience in 2012. The company operates from a 115-acre manufacturing site consisting of lab to large scale reactors, with available space and infrastructure for future expansion.

Founded in New Delhi in 1991, Safex is a leading Indian manufacturer and supplier of the most advanced crop protection chemicals. Safex is backed by private equity firm ChrysCapital. Neeraj Jindal, Director, Safex, has joined the board of Briar Chemicals and will steer the future growth of the company.

Briar is Safex’s first overseas acquisition and forms part of the company’s strategy for global expansion in step with the substantial growth of the worldwide agrochemicals market, which is set to increase in value by over 11 per cent from $ 62.3 billion in 2022 to $ 69.4 billion in 2026.

Safex was advised on the transaction by Investec (Corporate Finance), KPMG (Financial and Tax DD), Bird & Bird (Legal), Bodhi Tree (Debt Advisor), RK & Associates (Commercial DD) and Girish Kshirsagar (Technical DD). R Hariharan (agrochemical industry advisor) assisted in key areas of market sizing, regulatory aspects and the competitive landscape. Aurelius was advised on the transaction by DC Advisory, Deloitte (Financial), Travers Smith (Legal), EY (Tax), NexantECA (Commercial), and Birketts (Property).