Mumbai: A dealmaker who helped Lakshmi Mittal list his company in 1997 and raise multi billion-dollar financing to acquire Arcelor in 2006 is now looking to make a bet on the Indian steel industry. Sudhir Maheshwari-led Synergy Capital has acquired Saurashtra Fuels’ flagship plant in Mundra, becoming one of India’s largest independent merchant low-ash metallurgical coke producers. Synergy is an Asia-focused alternative investment manager.
The Dubai-based Synergy has a strategic emphasis on India. Across funds, it has deployed $1 billion in private credit and equity in groups, and companies as diverse as GMR, Shapoorji Pallonji Group and JSW Cement. It is in the middle of raising a new $1-billion fund, half of which will be deployed in India. The Gujarat plant is the firm’s first buyout equity transaction in India.
Maheshwari helped finalise the $34-billion deal that created ArcelorMittal, which had catapulted the company to the top of the steel industry.
The acquisition by Synergy Capital is aimed at securing a scarce raw material in a structurally under-supplied metallurgical coke market, with the added advantage of proximity to the large commercial ports of Mundra and Kandla, Maheshwari told ET.
Synergy is spending Rs 1,200 crore over three years to buy the plant from its erstwhile promoters — the Agarwalla and Sinha families — and refurbish it before restarting operations. After three decades of running Saurashtra Fuels, the two families decided to divest the plant in a strategic sale in August 2024.
Securing Raw Material
He’s also keen to diversify into power generation and downstream production by investing in a greenfield ferro-alloy plant in the same location to leverage the site’s strategic location and proximity to India’s largest private port, Mundra. Including the planned power plant, the total acquisition and greenfield project cost is expected to be around Rs 2,000 crore.
Synergy Saurashtra’s 250-acre coke plant site includes eight coke oven batteries with an annual capacity of 600,000 tonnes. In the past, this plant supplied steel and industrial customers, including JSW Steel, ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel, Electrotherm and Hindustan Zinc, besides exporting to about a dozen destinations, including Japan, South Korea, the European Union and Brazil.
“We also plan to consolidate and expand both the export and domestic footprints,” Maheshwari said. “The location next to the Mundra and Kandla ports enables faster, lower-cost inbound coal and outbound coke flows, improving working capital turns and margins.”
At its peak, the plant produced about 500,000 tonnes of metallurgical coke and exported roughly 150,000 tonnes, making it among the leading manufacturers and exporters of metallurgical coke.
India’s access to high-quality metallurgical coke remains constrained as rapid steel capacity additions have tightened availability of the fuel. India’s steel demand stands at 136 million metric tonnes; it is projected to rise to 220 mmt by FY30 and to 390 mmt by FY50, led by the automotive, construction and infrastructure sectors, driving a multi-year upcycle in raw-material intensity and merchant coke offtake.
Low-ash metallurgical coke manufactured by the company finds applications in multiple industries such as steel (blast furnace route), foundries, copper, zinc and soda ash manufacturing.
Using Waste-Heat
Synergy will also be investing up to Rs 375 crore in a waste-heat recovery power plant, which would involve installing boilers and a steam turbine to convert the high-temperature off-gases from the coke ovens into production of 35-50 MW captive electricity. The commissioning is exp ..
“Captive generation will lower the plant’s cost of electricity and improve margin stability. Waste-heat recovery displaces fossil/thermal electricity and cuts site energy intensity, contributing to lower CO₂ per tonne of coke produced and aligning with best-available-tech guidance in the coke value chain,” said Maheshwari. “Otherwise, the high-temperature energy generated by industrial processes would be vented to the atmosphere. In coke-making, waste-heat recovery turns oven off-gases and red-hot coke-cooling heat into captive power.”
India’s national standards list non-recovery ovens among preferred low-emission procedures for new coke units.
Downstream bets
There is also a feasibility study underway for a downstream ferro-alloys plant to monetise captive waste-heat power, use inhouse coke as the primary reductant, and leverage the port-SEZ (special economic zone) for ore imports and alloy exports. The planned investment for this would be around Rs 250 crore, with commissioning also targeted by early 2027.
Submerged-arc furnaces, the core smelting units that make a ferro-alloy plant work, are power-intensive at roughly 9,000–12,000 kWh per tonne, and electricity can account for 40–70% of production cost. Captive power materially improves unit economics. Co-locating next to the merchant met-coke plant ensures consistent nut-coke supply and quality, while port-side logistics compress cost-to-serve and cycle times.
India Focus
“Steel demand underpins the market, and the location offers export options,” said Maheshwari. “The SEZ’s ready infrastructure and flexible land use help us connect power, water, and the grid faster at the coke complex, shortening time-to-market and lowering delivered cost.”
India remains the core focus for Synergy Capital, he said. The firm is in the process of raising its third fund of $1 billion for industrial and infrastructure sector investments in Asia, more than half will be deployed in India.
“Our sweet spot is asset-backed, cash-flow-generating businesses where operating upgrades and capex can expand margins and protect the downside,” Maheshwari said. “Execution leans on industrial operating expertise and tailored structures for acquisitions, growth ..
Maheshwari spent nearly 30 years with LN Mittal in various responsibilities across corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions and divestments, as well as risk management, before becoming his key investment manager, leading the family office.
Along with Malay Mukherjee, another top Mittal aide, he was one of the people who worked closely with the family and was instrumental in building its global steel empire.
Source Name : Economic Times