Mitsubishi, Unilever & Amalgam Tieup For Cold Storage Chain

Mitsubishi Corporation has formed an alliance with the Unilever group, Amalgam Foods Ltd and group company Mitsubishi Logistics, to establish the first-ever cold storage chain in the country-Snowman Frozen Foods Ltd.

The company will initially provide cold storage facilities for the frozen foods manufacturers in various cities besides helping transport these goods in special deep freeze trucks from one centre to another. It will then expand into value-added activities.

The new joint venture will, however, help the promoters to conduct their own frozen foods business more effectively.

The Uniliver group, which does not own a warehouse in the country, will now have storage facilities for its wide range of ice-creams.

 

Similarly, Snowman Ltd may provide cold storage for the Amalgam group, which deals in export of shrimps besides helping Mitsubishis plan to export frozen food products from India.

Mitsubishi Corporation has already established a wholly-owned company in the country, M C International India Pvt Ltd, for its trading business.

A senior Mitsubishi official said Mitsubishi Corporation has picked up 26 per cent stake in Snowman Frozen Foods, Unilver 15 per cent, Mitsubishi Logistics 8 per cent while Amalgam Enterprises has the majority 51 per cent equity in the new venture.

The initial investment will be Rs 33 crore and the first phase of the project is expected to be completed by June this year, the official said. In the first phase, the company plans to set up warehouses in Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Cochin, Pune, Nasik and Ludhiana.

We plan to first concentrate on providing only warehousing facilities. Later, we may enter into areas such as food processing, etc, the official said. The company is in the process of setting up mother cold stores in six statesKaranataka, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Gujarat.