Nimir Industrial Chemicals sold for Rs6 million

UAE-based parent company wishes to exit Pakistan’s market.

KARACHI:

Z M Associates has acquired a 59 per cent stake in Nimir Industrial Chemicals Limited for Rs6 million, a notice informed on Monday.

Knightsbridge, the UAE-based parent company of Nimir Industrial Chemicals, wishes to exit the Pakistani market, Z M Associates said in a notice sent to the Karachi Stock Exchange.

Z M Associates was formed by senior employees of Nimir Industrial Chemicals who were interested in acquiring a controlling stake in the company.

These employees might have seen the company as a diamond in the rough and might see it blossom in the years ahead, added Punjani.

“The chemical sector is currently outperforming the stock market and this is the time to earn,” the analyst added.

The UAE-based company took control of Nimir Industrial Chemicals in 2007, since then the stock price of the chemical producer has gone up a meagre four per cent. The stock price had jumped to around Rs6.5 after the takeover but fell down in a year’s time to almost a rupee.

Net profit of the sole maker of stearic acid and distilled fatty acids in the country more than doubled to Rs11.8 million during July to December 2010 compared with Rs5.74 million posted in the same period a year earlier.

Nimir Industrial Chemicals will sell 131 million shares (59 per cent) to Z M Associates. Of the 131 million, 45 million shares will be acquired through public offer, said Topline Securities analyst Furqan Punjani.

Nimir Industrial Chemicals will continue to be listed at the Karachi Stock Exchange, said the notice. The company stock, the second most traded on Monday, rose Rs0.1 to close at Rs3.27.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 12^th,  2011.