Berger Paints India Ltd is looking at countries like China , Brazil , Poland , Romania , Bulgaria and Russia for possible buyouts. The paint major is ready to even dilute equity in the company for funding the projects.
Chairman Kuldeep Singh Dhingra said, “We are in talks with PE funds willing to invest in our company. It can be done through issuing new equity shares. We are ready even for dilution of equity.”
The company’s subsidiary in Russia, Berger Paints Overseas Ltd, has set up a plant at Krasnadar in the south. The plant, which is on over 18 acres, has a production capacity of 3,000 tonne per annum.
“The paints market in Russia is growing at the rate of 8-9%. Per capita paint consumption in that country is around 7 kg, against 700 gm in India . This leaves us with a large opportunity,” said Dhingra.
He was talking to reporters on the sidelines of the company’s 83rd annual general meeting.
The auto-paint plant of the company in Pune is expected to be operational within a year. “We have planned to invest Rs 50 crore in the project,” said managing director Subir Bose.
The total production capacity of the plant will be 800 kilolitres a month, or almost 10,000 kilolitres a year.
With an almost 20% market share in the decorative paint segment, 76% of its sales comes from that segment, while the automotive segment contributes the rest. Bose ruled out any possibility of a price hike in the near future. “We expect input costs to remain stable in the next quarter.”