EID Parry invests Rs 65 cr in subsidiaries

Murugappa Group company EID Parry has invested Rs 65 crore in its subsidiaries through equity and loan as part of its diversification plans. The group said that one of its subsidiaries was planning to launch wellness and nutraceutical products as prescription products.

In its annual report 2012-13, it has stated that last fiscal (2012-13) EID Parry invested Rs 50 crore as the equity capital of Sadashiva Sugars Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary, by converting a part of the unsecured loan into equity shares.

In 2009, the company had acquired a 76 per cent stake in the Bangalore-based Sadashiva Sugars.

EID Parry recorded revenues of Rs 122.06 crore in 2012-13 with a net loss of Rs 30.04 crore.

The company invested another Rs 15 crore in the 8 per cent cumulative redeemable preference shares of Rs 10 each of Parrys Sugar Industries Limited by converting a part of its unsecured loan.

As part of its diversification plans, the company has mapped out differentiated strategies and leveraged the decontrol of sugar by foraying into other markets, and exploring greater opportunities.

Parry's eight sugar plants were fully integrated with facilities for cogeneration of power from bagasse and turning sugar into an energy crop of the future.

The distillery facilities at the Nellikuppam, Sivaganga, Haliyal and Sankili plants, with a multi-product unit with extra neutral alcohol and fuel ethanol production facilities also contributed to growth in revenues.

Energy optimisation methods and green initiatives enabled both co-generation and the distillery streams of the sugar business to register higher efficiencies.

The company's other vertical, Parry's Nutraceuticals, has consolidated its position in the organic spirulina segment in the US and the European markets.

It enhanced the phycocyanin content in the spirulina through a special process with GRAS Certification from FDA and the completion of the USP Ingredient Verification Program, has positioned Parrys Spirulina as global brand, said the company in its annual report.

Valensa, a subsidiary of Parry has become a strategic manufacturing and marketing base in the US. The manufacturing facility with its access to global markets was addressing cardio-vascular and joint health categories.

While the capacity expansions at Oonaiyur kept pace with the burgeoning market demand for organic spirulina, a greenfield venture for the extraction of natural mixed carotenoids from marine water algae was initiated," said the company.

"This will be another future-defining product in wellness and a global first. Future plans of the division include launching of wellness and nutraceutical products through the doctor-prescription route and offering value-added formulations and co-biotics for the Indian pharma industry addressing gastro-intestinal health, liver health, etc.," said the company.