The Mumbai High Court (Nagpur Bench) has approved the merger of Bilt Graphic Papers Ltd (BGPL) with Ballarpur Industries Ltd (Bilt). Delhi High Court had recently granted nod for the scheme on March 27. With these approvals, the legal process of the merger is complete and the entity of BGPL will merge with Bilt from July 1, 2003 on filing of the court orders with the Registrar of Companies. This acquisition is considered a natural fit with the existing operations of Bilt and is in line with strategic directions to strengthen its position as a leading player in high-value-added paper segments. The acquisition is at an attractive cost relative to establishing a greenfield project. The company already is a market leader across all its defined product categories in the writing and printing paper segment. Bilt is the largest paper company in India with a focus on writing and printing and specialty paper. It has five manufacturing units spread across the country with a consolidated manufacturing capacity of 3,63,500 tonne of paper annually.
