Solar Industries India is set to acquire South Africa’s Omnia Holdings for $1.355 billion (around Rs 12,951 crore) in an all-cash transaction, significantly expanding its international mining and explosives platform as the Nagpur-based company seeks to emerge as a global leader in blasting solutions.
Solar SA Investments Proprietary, a wholly owned step-down subsidiary of Solar Industries, has signed definitive agreements to acquire all outstanding shares of Johannesburg-listed Omnia. The acquisition is expected to be completed in early to mid-2027, subject to customary conditions, including competition approvals in relevant jurisdictions.
Following completion, Omnia will be delisted from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and A2X Markets securities exchange.
The transaction gives Solar access to a sizeable international business. Omnia reported revenue of around $1.41 billion (approximately Rs 13,307 crore) in FY26 and remained net cash positive. The 73-year-old company has a presence in 23 countries, serves customers in more than 40 countries and operates over 70 distribution centres across Southern and Western Africa and other international markets.
“The proposed transaction marks an important milestone in our ambition to become a global leader in explosives and blasting solutions, while also providing us with a meaningful entry into integrated crop nutrition and biological solutions,” Manish Nuwal, managing director and chief executive officer of Solar Group, said.
A key strategic attraction is Omnia’s mining business, which operates under the BME brand and has capabilities across open-cast mining, bulk explosives, electronic detonation systems, digital blasting solutions and mining chemicals.
“In particular, Omnia’s BME brand brings a strong international mining platform, high-quality manufacturing assets, technological leadership in electronic initiation systems, integrated ammonium nitrate manufacturing capability and an established presence across Africa and other international markets,” Nuwal said.
Omnia’s agriculture business also operates nitric acid and ammonium nitrate production facilities. It has recently added a 5,000-tonne ammonium nitrate storage tank, doubling its storage capacity. Solar said these assets are expected to improve raw-material availability, supply security and operational flexibility across the explosives value chain.
The combined platform is expected to broaden Solar’s access to key mining markets while integrating manufacturing, explosives and blasting services.
“Together, the combined group will be positioned to offer the most integrated blasting solutions, creating meaningful competitive advantages through enhanced supply security, greater economies of scale, technology differentiation, access to key mining markets across Africa and other international geographies, and deeper customer engagement,” Nuwal added.
Solar expects the benefits of the enlarged footprint to become increasingly visible from FY2028, with its revenue attributable to Africa’s mining market expected to register multi-fold growth.
The acquisition builds on Solar’s expansion in Africa. It entered the Southern African Development Community region in 2010 with a manufacturing facility in Zambia, began South African operations in 2015 and commissioned its Middelburg facility in 2017.
In 2024, Solar acquired South Africa-based ProBlast, which specialises in open-cast mining, drilling, blasting and explosives services. The Omnia transaction will now substantially expand its manufacturing, distribution and mining-services footprint across the region.