BDA advises Apar Industries on closing sale of its Polymer Division to Eliokem

Business Development Asia LLC (“BDA”) is pleased to announce that the transaction with Apar Industries Ltd (“Apar”), a diversified, publicly traded, Indian industrial group, and the France-based Eliokem International, an AXA Private Equity portfolio company which makes specialty chemicals, for the sale of Apar’s polymer business located in Valia (India) has closed. The agreement between the two parties was reached in November 2007.

The polymer division of Apar markets various rubber chemicals under the brand names Aparene® and Powerene®. Eliokem has paid INR 1.11bn (US$28m) to acquire the assets of Apar’s polymer division. The transaction closed on 15th February 2008. BDA acted as exclusive financial advisor to Apar Industries on this transaction.

About Apar Industries
Apar Industries Ltd (“Apar”) is a diversified Indian industrial corporation with interests in aluminum conductors (accounting for 45% of sales), specialty oils (accounting of 45% of sales) and polymers (accounting for 10% of sales). It is one of the largest manufacturers of specialty oils and aluminum conductors in India. Apar Industries is publicly traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India, with an annual consolidated turnover of INR 15bn (US$350m) in FY2006-07.

About Eliokem
Eliokem, formed in 2001 as a result of the spin-off of the specialty chemicals business of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, is a leading specialty chemical group with headquarters in Villejust near Paris (France). The group employs more than 460 people around the world and owns 3 production facilities located at Le Havre (France), Akron (Ohio, USA) and Ningbo (China), as well as 6 representative offices in Europe, Asia and the Americas, and a network of 75 distributors and agents strategically located around the world. The company’s turnover reached €164m (US$220m) in 2006.

About BDA
Business Development Asia LLC was founded in 1996. BDA assists multinational corporate and financial sector clients to identify and execute acquisitions, divestments, JVs, restructuring and capital raising, in Asia and internationally. The company is headquartered in New York with offices in London, Bahrain, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul, and Tokyo. BDA employs 55 full-time professional staff across its eight offices, supplemented by a team of senior advisors around the world. BDA’s client list includes Air Products, Cadbury Schweppes, Celestica, DIC, DuPont, Ecolab, Global Power, Godrej, Great Lakes, Hanjin Shipping, Hercules, Huntsman, Inabata, Kimberly-Clark, Lear, Lubrizol, Mars, Molex, Morgan Stanley, Nalco, Reuters, Rohm & Haas, Ryder, Siemens, SigmaKalon, Sumitomo Chemical, Sun Chemical, TATA Auto Components, Tenneco, Tredegar, Visteon, WR Grace, and the British Government. Further information on BDA is available at www.bdapartners.com.

BDA Transaction Team
Andrew Huntley, Senior Managing Director, London, ahuntley@bdallc.com
Rohit Singh, Managing Director, Head of Mumbai office, rsingh@bdallc.com
Arun Bagchi, Assistant Director, Mumbai, abagchi@bdallc.com
Diwakar Mitr, Associate, Mumbai, dmitr@bdallc.com

For more information regarding this transaction, please contact Rohit Singh in Mumbai on (91) 22 2643 0290 or Andrew Huntley in London on (44) 20 7655 3500.