ACI's Two Bets

The conglomerate puts Tk 60 crore behind its Danish fruit-drink venture and opens a second joint venture with a Japanese partner. The smaller deal is the more interesting one. 

The big picture: Advanced Chemical Industries (ACI) approved two moves at its 28 September board meeting, disclosed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange. It will inject another Tk 60 crore into its Danish fruit-drinks venture, ACI CO-RO Bangladesh. It also formed ACI-ICHINEN Bangladesh with Japan's ICHINEN Holdings. Both need regulatory approval.

Why it matters: One deal is a patient bet on a business that has not yet paid off. The other is a new piece in a growing Japanese network around ACI.

Bet one: the juice

• ACI CO-RO was set up in 2019 as a greenfield venture with Denmark's CO-RO A/S. ACI agreed to invest Tk 499 million for a 49.9% stake.
• Its Narayanganj factory opened in 2024. The Business Standard reports that CO-RO A/S is not putting in fresh money at this stage. If ACI's earlier investment is unchanged, its total would reach about Tk 110 crore.
• Daily Waadaa quotes a company official saying the venture has not yet reached break-even. It sells under the Sunquick brand.

Between the lines: ACI is funding the top-up alone, into a business still losing money, in the hope that scale fixes it. Whether ACI's stake changes as a result has not been disclosed.

Bet two: the Japan venture

ACI-ICHINEN has authorized capital of Tk 50 crore and paid-up capital of Tk 15 crore. ACI will hold 60%, or about Tk 9 crore of the paid-up capital. ACI told The Business Standard what each arm does:

• Motorcycle finance. The venture will buy Yamaha motorcycles from ACI Motors and sell them to retailers on instalment financing.
• Labour. It will facilitate the migration of skilled Bangladeshi workers to Japan.
• Agriculture. It will grow sweet potatoes in Bangladesh for export to Japan.

The partner is ICHINEN Holdings, an Osaka-based group known for car leasing, chemicals, parking, machine tools, synthetic resins and agribusiness. The two sides signed an MOU at ICHINEN's Osaka headquarters before the board approved the venture.

A bit on ACI’s Japan thread

ACI's Japanese ties now run through several deals:

• In November 2024, Mitsui bought 18.5% of ACI Motors for $22.75 million. ACI Motors assembles and sells Yamaha motorcycles and Yanmar agricultural machinery. We covered that deal at the time.
• In February 2026, Mitsui agreed to provide a convertible loan to ACI Logistics, the operator of Shwapno. It is Mitsui's second collaboration with ACI. The loan is subject to regulatory approvals.
• Now ACI-ICHINEN will buy its motorcycles from ACI Motors, the company Mitsui part-owns.

You may read it as ACI is assembling a Japan-facing ecosystem of capital, products and people. The pieces increasingly feed one another.

What we don't know

• Whether ACI's CO-RO stake changes after a solo top-up.
• ICHINEN's equity share and how the three businesses will be sequenced.
• Which regulator must approve each deal, and when.
• The terms of the motorcycle instalment financing.

The bottom line: while the juice is the headline, the Japan venture is the more interesting deal. Its motorcycles, migrants and sweet potatoes make up a small pipeline that ACI's Japanese partners help fill.