Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd on Wednesday acquired top notch global material technology company Lummus for $2.725 billion or Rs 20,590 crore — by far the most ambitious overseas gambit ever to be undertaken by a company from Bengal.

HPL, in partnership with New York-based private equity firm Rhône Capital, bought US-based Lummus Technology from McDermott International. HPL, with headquarters in Calcutta, will have a 57 per cent stake in the venture which will be run as an autonomous business.

The 110 years-old Lummus is a leading master licensor of proprietary technologies in refining, petrochemicals, gas processing and coal gasification sectors as well as a supplier of proprietary catalysts, equipment and related engineering services. It has around 130 licensed technologies and more than 3,400 patents and trademarks.

HPL, which was built in 2000, is one of the users of Lummus’s technologies and if the opportunity comes, some of the catalysts may also be manufactured at Haldia.

The transaction caps one of the most remarkable turnarounds in the Indian corporate history. A pet project of the Left Front-government, the company came into existence with the aid of technocrat-turned-investor-entrepreneur Purnendu Chatterjee’s eponymous The Chatterjee Group. The Bengal government had chipped in with funds along with Tata Group.

However, HPL made news mostly for the wrong reasons for the next 15 years, be it a bitter fight for management control between TCG and the government, or the company slipping into near bankruptcy.

The turnaround came in 2015 shortly before Chatterjee and the Bengal government under Mamata Banerjee buried the hatchet and TCG took majority control. There has been no looking back since then. Buoyed by the success, TCG also acquired Mitsubishi Chemical’s purified terephthalic acid plant in Haldia.

Commenting on the Lummus deal, Chatterjee said on Wednesday: “Our investments are both strategic and long term, most of which span across 25 to 30 years.

“We have primarily focused on knowledge based enterprises, and as such Lummus is a great addition to our portfolio. Leading with innovation, it delivers sustainable value to clients in the areas of materials technology. HPL being a long-term client of Lummus can share its customer experience and collaborate with Lummus to co-create innovations for the benefit of the industry.”

Access to proprietary Lummus technologies will also aid HPL and Chatterjee’s long cherished dream to build an oil refinery, which will focus more on producing chemicals than petrol and diesel.

SBI, which played a crucial role in 2015 to bring HPL back from the brink, played an important role in the Lummus deal by providing loans.

Rajnish Kumar, chairman of SBI, the lead banker in the deal, said: “The acquisition of Lummus, the world’s premier petrochemicals company, by HPL is a landmark achievement by an Indian company. I hope this acquisition will go a long way in furthering India’s strong footprint in the technology space and support India’s mission of Atmanirbhar Bharat. SBI is happy to be associated with this prestigious acquisition.”

Leon de Bruyn, head of Lummus Technology, described the deal as “an important milestone”. “We would be able to focus exclusively on providing world class technologies and solutions and developing long- term strategies that will allow Lummus to lead and shape the future of our industry,” he said.