Calcutta, May 2: BK Birla group flagship Kesoram Industries expects to sell its heavy chemical business in the next three months.

The sale could fetch Rs 25-30 crore for the company.

The unit ? Hindustan Heavy Chemicals (HHC) ? is located at Khardah in north 24-Parganas and currently employs 300 people.

The successful bidder will take over the employees as well as the over 20-acre plot of prime land on BT Road.

Six companies are believed to have shown interest in the unit.

Solicitor firm Khaitan & Co will negotiate with potential buyers on the company’s behalf.

“We will focus on tyre and cement businesses. It is a policy decision to sell HHC only,” a Kesoram official said.

However, the company made it clear that it would not be a distress sale.

The unit produces sulphur and caustic soda, which in turn is supplied to the rayon units of Kesoram.

The company has suspended work at the rayon and transparent paper units at Triveni and Bansberia in Bengal because of industrial disputes from January 30.

Company officials said no decision has been taken on those two units yet.

The heavy chemical business will be sold on a going concern basis. It contributes only 2 per cent of the turnover.

The rayon and chemical businesses were a drag on its bottomline this year as well, which otherwise posted robust numbers.

For the year ended March 31, Kesoram has declared a net profit of Rs 45.70 crore against Rs 33.51 crore a year ago.

Its total income rose to Rs 1,667.85 crore in 2005-06 compared with Rs 1,495.77 crore and net sales grew to Rs 1,614.11 crore in 2005-06 against Rs 1,423.54 crore a year ago.

For the fourth quarter ended March 31, it posted a 37.47 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 27.77 crore against Rs 20.20 crore in the same period previous year.

Total income rose 14.22 per cent to Rs 471.90 crore compared with Rs 413.15 crore.