MUMBAI: Bajaj Hindusthan (BHL) is planning a foray into Brazil, with an investment of $500m. The company will set up a subsidiary in the world’s largest sugar producing country and is open to all options to increase its presence in the country including setting up greenfield facilities and acquisitions.

“BHL is proposing to invest over $500m in Brazil over the next six months in both sugar and ethanol assets”, said Kushagra Bajaj, chief executive officer, BHL.

The operations in Brazil will be funded by $380m raised by the company through the GDR and FCCB route between May ’05 and January ’06. BHL’s aim is to be among the top two sugar companies in the world. The foray assumes importance because of the increasing awareness of the benefits of ethanol blended fuel in the wake of rising crude oil prices. A majority of Brazil’s sugarcane production goes into the production of ethanol.

BHL posted a turnover of Rs 900 crore for the fiscal ’04-05. The company has a sugarcane crushing capacity of 56,000 TCD and has targeted almost tripling of capacity to 150,000 TCD in ’06-07. BHL closed at Rs 495.35 on the BSE, up by 3.78%.