Standard Greases is now co-promoter of Tide Water Oil after grease maker becomes majority shareholder

The board of Tide Water Oil Co. (India) Ltd. has named Standard Greases & Specialties Pvt. Ltd., the largest private label grease manufacturer in India, as a co-promoter of the company.

Based in Mumbai, Standard Greases made an open offer for 226,512 of Tide Water Oil shares at INR 17,505 (USD 261.33) per share in December 2015. Following the open offer, Standard Greases’ stake in Tide Water Oil increased from 23.24% to 27.69%.

In addition, Janus Consolidated Finance Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of Standard Greases, has a 1.69% stake in Tide Water Oil, making Standard Greases overwhelmingly the majority shareholder in Tide Water Oil, with a total stake of 29.38%.

Andrew Yule, which was previously the largest stakeholder in Tide Water Oil, has a 26.23% stake in the company.

“They already have two representatives on the board from March this year following the open offer. So, the board has decided to call them as co-promoter,” said R.N. Ghosal, managing director of Tide Water Oil.

The move is significant because Tide Water Oil is part of a public sector undertaking (PSU), Andrew Yule, based in Kolkata, while Standard Greases is a private company. The Andrew Yule Group has diverse interests in engineering, electrical, tea cultivation, power generation, digital communication systems and lubricants.

Tide Water Oil has an extensive distribution network consisting of 50 distributors and more than 650 dealers servicing more than 50,000 retail outlets. Tide Water Oil’s network is supplied by five plants and 55 depots located strategically across India.

Tide Water Oil is the owner of the Veedol brand of lubricants and has three wholly owned subsidiary companies–Veedol International Limited, Veedol International DMCC, Dubai and Veedol International BV, Netherlands. Veedol International Americas Inc., Canada, as well as Veedol Deutschland GmbH, Germany, are “step down” subsidiaries.

Established in 1983, Standard Greases is engaged in the manufacturing of lubricants and special greases in Tarapur, Maharashtra and Silvassa.