Zydus Wellness, Cadila to buy Kraft Heinz India for about $630 million

(Reuters) - Indian consumer company Zydus Wellness Ltd and Cadila Healthcare Ltd will jointly buy the India business of Kraft Heinz Co for 45.95 billion rupees ($627.18 million), expanding their product portfolio in the domestic market.

The acquisition will give Zydus and Cadila access to brands such as malt-based health drink Complan, energy drink Glucon-D, talcum powder Nycil and clarified butter brand Sampriti Ghee.

The valuation of nearly 46 billion rupees includes net working capital of 400 million rupees and cash of 150 million rupees. It does not assume any debt, Zydus said https://www.bseindia.com/xml-data/corpfiling/AttachLive/0ac5b490-2d9e-4b29-b50c-943f6daa63c6.pdf in a statement on Wednesday.

The deal is expected to add to earnings and will be financed through a mix of equity and debt. Zydus expects the deal to close in the fourth quarter of the current fiscal year.

Shares of Zydus were trading 1.7 percent higher while those in Cadila were down 2.7 percent, in tandem with other healthcare stocks.

($1 = 73.2650 rupees)

(Reporting by Tanvi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Vyas Mohan)