Ruchi Soya to evaluate merger of Patanjali Ayurved’s food portfolio with itself

Ruchi Soya to evaluate merger of Patanjali Ayurved’s food portfolio with itself

Baba Ramdev‘s Ruchi Soya Industries on Monday said it will evaluate the most efficient mode to merge Patanjali Ayurved Ltd’s food portfolio with itself and has also decided to change the name of the company to Patanjali Foods Ltd.

Ruchi Soya has recently raised Rs 4,300 crore through its Follow-on Public Offer (FPO).

In a regulatory filing, Ruchi Soya informed that the board, in its meeting held on Sunday, “accorded its in-principle approval for evaluating the most efficient mode of enhancing synergies with the Patanjali Ayurved Ltd food portfolio in any manner on an arm’s length basis.”

It also authorised officials of the company to negotiate, finalise, execute and deliver the terms and conditions of the proposed transaction.

The board has also decided to change the name of the company to Patanjali Foods Ltd or any other name as may be made available by Registrar of Companies.

Last month, Baba Ramdev had announced that: “In the next few months, Patanjali Ayurved will transfer all food business to Ruchi Soya. Patanjali Ayurved would operate in non-food, traditional medicine and wellness space.”

Ramdev had said Ruchi Soya would focus on four business verticals – edible oil, food and FMCG, nutraceuticals and oil palm plantation.

Ruchi Soya has developed 57,000 hectares of area under oil palm and the plan is to expand significantly in southern and northeastern regions of the country.

Last year, Patanjali had transferred its biscuits business to Ruchi Soya for a nominal consideration of Rs 60 crore.

“We have set a target to make Patanjali Ayurved and Ruchi Soya, India’s largest food and FMCG company in the next five years,” Ramdev had said.

He claimed that Patanjali Ayurved is the country’s second largest food and FMCG firm, with Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) being the first.

The combined annual turnover of Patanjali Ayurved group and its subsidiary Ruchi Soya is around Rs 35,000 crore.

Ruchi Soya, which was acquired by the Patanjali group in 2019 for Rs 4,350 crore through an insolvency process, had a revenue of nearly Rs 16,400 crore in FY21