CHENNAI, May 7: Hindustan Lever Ltd and two NRI groups, including Coastalog Inc, are learnt to have evinced interest in buying Bangalore-based Indiana Dairy Ltd. Although HLL has officially denied it, sources said the dairy firm makes for a tempting target. Indiana is supplying product inputs for Lever ice-cream brands.

Earlier Indiana was a supplier of ice cream to Dollops. With Brooke Bond Lipton acquiring the Dollops brand from Cadburys, it started supplying for the Kwality Walls line. With the HLL-Brooke Bond merger, Indiana is now part of the Lever supplier base.

Indiana which is facing a financial crisis now becomes a perfect acquisition and seeing that it already is a part of the Lever interests, it would only be a logical move on Lever's part to acquire the company.

Coastalog Inc, a US-based multinational company with global interests in the dairy industry with which Indiana was in the process of tying-up for production and marketing of fruit and dairy beverages, also is reportedly positive on the company and has asked for certain financial details.

According to informed sources, the valuation of the company is presently being undertaken by a group of Chartered Accountants.

An NRI group which has based its Indian operations in Bangalore is another contender. The group came forward to run the unit after the expiry of the promoter and its representatives were appointed as additional directors on the board.

Till 1995 and even in early 1996, Indiana Dairy was a star performer in the milk products industry. The company has its plants at Bangalore, Hyderabad and Nagpur. It has a capacity of 37.5 lakh tonnes per annum for ice creams.

It has a equity base of 6.09 crore on an authorised capital of Rs 10 crore.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.