Nithia Capital acquires Topworth Urja at Rs 300 crore

 

 

Nithia Capital (Nithia) and Evonith Holdings Pte Ltd (Evonith) on Monday announced the successful closure of its acquisition of Topworth Urja and Metals Limited (Urja) for a total consideration of Rs 300 crore. Evonith is an investment holding company of Nithia. This is the third successful acquisition of steel assets in India by Nithia, which commenced with Evonith Metallics Limited (EML) and Evonith Value Steel Limited (EVSL), subsequently followed by Crest Steel and Power Limited (Crest). Located at Mouza Ukkerwahi near village Heti on Umred Road in the district, Urja is a 0.2 mtpa long products steel producer with integrated facilities from direct reduced iron production, steel making and rolling mill facilities. Furthermore, the company has 35 MW of captive power plants and vital thermal coal mining licenses.

 

A substantial rehabilitation and growth capex plan is envisaged to increase steel making operation to 0.5 mtpa and ensure the power plants are producing at full capacity. Jai Saraf, Chairman of Evonith Steel, Founder and CEO of Nithia said, “The acquisition of Urja is another strategic step for Nithia in achieving steelmaking capacity in excess of 6.0 mtpa and creating a world class steel production base in India. Evonith Steel’s story in India is growth focused - both organically and inorganically. We aim to make Urja one of the leading long steel producers in the region as we have done with Evonith Steel at Wardha, which is now well set on its growth journey to achieve an overall fully integrated steel production capacity of 3.0 mtpa.” Nithia acquired Evonith Steel in December 2020, when it was loss-making and operating below 0.5 mtpa.

 

Now producing 1.4 mtpa with a broader product range, the company has achieved higher output, completed projects, improved performance and profitability, and is well positioned for future growth. Rajib Ranjan Guha, Non – Executive Director of Urja and Partner at Nithia said “The Urja acquisition provides us with a diversified product portfolio across our Indian asset base – both flat and long steel products. We now look forward to embarking on enhancing production and bringing this asset back to economic success. This transaction further validates the success of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).” It is worth mentioning here that Mohan Agrawal, Shiv Agrawal and N K Sarda had set up the plant in 2002. Later on the Abhay Lodha-led company acquired it.

 

However in due course of time, State-owned lender Bank of Baroda had approached the bankruptcy court in 2018 against Topworth Urja & Metals after it defaulted on its dues of about Rs 218 crore. Founded in 2010, Nithia Capital is a global investment firm that specialises in turning around heavy asset-backed underperforming industries in steel, power, resources, and allied industrials. Evonith Steel is the combination of Evonith Metallics Limited (EML) and Evonith Value Steel Limited (EVSL) which form the Steel Complex at Wardha. Evonith Steel is an integrated steel producer with a capacity of 1.4 mtpa.