Inox Group reaches settlement over division of business; stocks rise

The share prices of Inox Group companies, including flagship Gujarat Fluorochemicals, rose on Wednesday following the group’s statement that the family has amicably decided to divide its businesses among the promoters.

The share price of GFL was up 3.1 per cent with total market valuation rising to Rs 22,876 crore. The stock is up by 266 per cent year-to-date.

According to the filing made to the stock exchanges, Pavan Jain, 70, gets Inox Leisure and unlisted Inox Air Products, while younger brother Vivek Jain, 66, gets GFL, Inox Wind, and Inox Wind Energy. Share prices of Inox Wind and Inox Wind Energy were up 4.6 per cent and 4 per cent, respectively. Share prices of Inox Wind and Inox Leisure are up 130 and 56 per cent since January 1. The Inox Leisure stock, however, closed marginally down on Wednesday.

Analysts said the brothers set up Inox India in the 1980s and turned it into one of the largest manufacturers of cryogenic tanks in the country. Later, the duo expanded into the refrigerants business after sales of refrigerators and airconditioners sales started increasing. The group started making refrigerants like chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), along with their gas business. Vivek set up GFL in 1989 in Gujarat. As the businesses flourished, in 2002, the brothers decided to get into the multiplex cinema chain business via Inox Leisure and it received a good response.

As the new generation started getting into the business, the brothers decided to enter renewables and set up Inox Wind, which has a market valuation of Rs 3,000 crore as of Wednesday. Set up in 2009, Inox Wind has become one of the biggest manufacturers of Wind Turbine Generators in India with four manufacturing plants in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh, and a cumulative manufacturing capacity of 1,600 MW. The group is one of the largest producers of oxygen and has been instrumental in supplying oxygen to hospitals across the country during the Covid pandemic.