CFL was promoted in 1961 by EID Parry, California Chemical Company (now Chevron Chemical Company) and International Mineral and Chemicals Corporation (now Mallinckrodt Inc). In September 1995, Chevron exited from the fertiliser business worldwide and its 23.55 per cent stake was bought by EID Parry.

The other promoter, Mallinckrodt now wants to get out of fertiliser business in India and has hence offered the first refusal right to EID Parry which the latter has accepted, a senior EID Parry official said. The official also said that the company had no plansto merge EID Parry and CFL though both are in the business of phosphatic fertilisers.

The consolidation is expected to benefit in streamlining of operation and rationalisation of resources, the official added. CFL which has a three lakh tonne plant at Visakhapatnam has a paid-up capital of Rs 24.32 crore and free reserves of Rs 132.65 crore as of March 1998. For the year ended March 1998, the company posted a profit of Rs 34.37 crore. The scrip is at present trading at Rs 32 levels on the National Stock Exchange.