India’s Solar Group has made a firm intention offer to acquire South African industrial group Omnia in an all-cash transaction valuing the company’s issued share capital at R21.8 billion.

Announced on 14 September 2026, the proposal is for R134.50 per Omnia share through a scheme of arrangement. Omnia’s board said it intended to recommend the scheme to shareholders, subject to its legal duties. The transaction still requires shareholder and regulatory approvals, so it should not be treated as completed.

Mining and agriculture at the centre

Omnia operates across mining, agriculture and chemicals. Its mining business includes BME, which supplies explosives and digital blasting technologies, while its agriculture division provides crop-nutrition products and services. Solar Group is an Indian-listed industrial manufacturer whose businesses include explosives and defence products, with operations and manufacturing across multiple countries.

The companies say the combination could expand Omnia’s access to manufacturing capacity, research and development, technology and international markets. In mining, the strategic case centres on pairing BME’s customer relationships and initiation systems with Solar’s production scale. In agriculture, the stated opportunity is to extend Omnia’s crop-nutrition and biologicals products into new markets.

What shareholders and customers should watch

The offer represents a premium to Omnia’s pre-announcement share price, while giving shareholders a cash exit if the scheme proceeds. The strategic case for the buyer is to create a larger industrial platform; the execution challenge will be integrating operations without disrupting customer service, local jobs or existing supplier relationships.

For South Africa, the proposal is also a significant foreign investment transaction in mining services and agriculture. The companies have said they would continue operating independently until completion. The next milestones are the shareholder process, regulatory review and any conditions attached to approval.

Source: Omnia’s announcement of the proposed transaction.