Tide Water Oil lines up JV with Japanese oil firm

Tide Water Oil, a member of Andrew Yule group, has signed a MoU with Japanese oil giant JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation to set up joint venture company which would manufacture and sell 'Eneos' brands of lubricants in India and its neighbouring countries.

At present, Tide Water Oil, under a licensing agreement with the Japanese firm, sells Eneos in India. Once both the companies float a 50:50 joint venture (JV) the manufacturing and selling of 'Eneos' would be transferred to the new entity, according to Kallol Datta, chairman of Tide Water Oil.

Dattta said the new JV entity, subject to shareholders' approval, would have a initial capital base of about Rs 100 crore.

Tide Water Oil would get a substantial value for divesting the business into the new JV identity. According to sources, the value for divesting the business into JV entity would be above Rs 80 crore. Tide Water's brand  'Veedol', is selling around 70,000 kilo litres per annum. Out of that, 25 per cent was 'Eneos', according to Datta. Tide Water Oil has five factories in India but as of now it would use the Chennai and Maharashtra facility to manufacture  and sell 'Eneos'.