Heubach to partner with Toyo Ink for pigment unit in Ankleshwar

To jointly manufacture Azo pigments with capacity of 2000 tonne per annum

Heubach Colour Pvt Ltd, an Indian arm of German pigments major, Heubach Group will partner with Japanese ink maker, Toyo Ink SC Holding Co to set up a pigments manufacturing facility at Ankleshwar. The boards of directors of the two companies have agreed on the joint venture, and the formal agreement to form 50:50 joint venture will be made next month.

The establishment of JV company will be followed by construction of a manufacturing facility within Heubach Colour's existing production site at Ankleshwar.

"The JV with Toyo is significant as it will increase the size of Heubach's existing pigments portfolio. Also, it will give access to larger market with Toyo being among the world's top ink makers," said Ravi Kapoor, MD, Heubach, India.

The new facility will manufacture azo pigments with the annual capacity of 2000 tonnes of per year. "The new facility will be located at the Heubach's existing unit at Ankleshwar. The total investment will be made in phased manner at around Rs 50 crore," Kapoor informed.

According to him, the JV with Toyo will bring clean and cost effective technology to manufacture azo pigments, which are used in the dyes for the textiles, plastics and leather articles. The two companies had also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) during the recently concluded Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2013.

"The new factory will commence commercial production in May 2014, leading to sales expansion through marketing activities in India and the two groups' global sales networks. They aim to achieve sales volume of 2,000 tons by 2016," a Toyo Ink statement said. The JV will strengthen sales of Toyo Ink's pigments in India and overseas. This JV would also be a key supplier to both the partners for their internal consumption and for their customers across the world. It is believed that setting up of the azo manufacturing facility through this JV, will help Toyo to achieve backward integration. The Japanese major is setting up an ink unit at Dahej.

The latest development is being considered important for the growth of Heubach's India operations. It may be noted that Heubach India had acquired Avecia (earlier ICI) range of pigments in 2007, and recently it had acquired the technology from Mitsui for backward integrated PB60.