Omnia Holdings, the JSE- listed agriculture, mining and chemicals group, said Monday that Solar SA Investments from India had made a firm-intention offer to acquire all of Omnia’s shares in an all-cash transaction valued at R21.8 billion.
The proposed transaction would be implemented through a scheme of arrangement and would result in Omnia being delisted from the JSE and A2X Markets.
Solar SA Investments is a subsidiary of Solar Overseas Mauritius, which in turn is a subsidiary of Solar Industries India.
“This is a milestone in Omnia’s 73-year history. Omnia has grown from an agriculture business into a diversified international group, drawing on decades of expertise and innovation to build businesses such as BME and take South African innovation, expertise and capability to markets around the world,” Omnia CEO Seelan Gobalsamy said.
He said the transaction aligned with Omnia’s strategy to strengthen and grow its businesses, build a scaled global mining-solutions platform and expand its sustainable agriculture offering.
Omnia’s share price rose 4.74% to R123.25 on the JSE on Monday. At R134.50 a share, the offer represents a premium to the company’s recent trading price.
The cash offer represents a 30.98% premium to Omnia’s closing share price of R102.69 on September 10, the last trading day before the cautionary announcement, and a 35.73% premium to its 30-day volume-weighted average price of R99.09 up to and including that date.
It also represents a 70.69% premium to Omnia’s closing price of R78.80 on December 31, 2025.
Omnia management believe the deal will accelerate growth across Omnia’s mining and agriculture businesses through enhanced technology, research and development, innovation, scale, market access and customer reach. It is also expected to strengthen manufacturing and supply-chain capabilities, enhance resilience and unlock scale-driven opportunities.
Solar Industries India is listed on India’s National Stock Exchange and BSE. It has a market capitalisation of about R340bn, according to the company. The group operates two primary divisions: industrial explosives, which provides packaged and bulk explosives and initiating systems to industry; and defence and aerospace, which manufactures defence products.
Solar serves customers in more than 90 countries and has manufacturing operations in 11 countries. Omnia has a physical presence in 23 countries.
Omnia’s directors said broad shareholder support had been secured for the proposed transaction.
Gobalsamy said Solar had grown from a single-site business in India into a leading international industrial group.
“Bringing together Omnia’s manufacturing and supply capabilities, technology, brands and customer relationships with Solar’s scale, research and development capabilities, commercial reach and international presence creates a powerful platform to accelerate BME’s ambition to become a global mining-solutions business of scale,” he said.
He said the transaction also created opportunities to expand Omnia’s sustainable agriculture solutions into new markets.
“Matched with Solar’s track record in South Africa and across the globe, the proposed transaction accelerates the execution of our growth strategy, building on the strength of our businesses, technology, brands and people, while giving them greater scale, reach and opportunity,” Gobalsamy said.
Manish Nuwal, managing director and CEO of the Solar group, said Omnia was a high-quality business with leading positions in mining and agriculture, differentiated technology and brands, and deep customer relationships.
“BME brings a strong global mining platform and leading technology in electronic initiation systems that complement our existing industrial explosives business,” he said.
“Omnia Agriculture provides Solar with an established position in integrated crop nutrition and biologicals — an attractive sector underpinned by the long-term importance of food security, sustainable agriculture and farm productivity.”
He said Omnia’s agriculture business could use Solar’s presence to expand market access and support the combined company’s growth and diversification ambitions.
The proposed transaction remains subject to Omnia shareholder approval, regulatory approvals and the fulfilment of other conditions set out in the firm-intention announcement.
edward.west@nationalmg.co.za
THE NATIONAL