Wilmar International unveiled two acquisitions in sugar in one day, accelerating its expansion into the sector and taking to four its deals within the last two months.

The world's top palm oil company said it had bought Jawamanis Rafinasi, an Indonesian refiner of sugar for the industrial market, with capacity for 330,000 tonnes a year.

Wilmar said that the acquisition would "form an integral part" of the sugar business that it is setting up in Indonesia, where it is in talks with authorities over plans to set up a 200,000-hectare plantation operation.

The group, which ended the last quarter with more than $6bn of cash, also unveiled the purchase of Windsor & Brook Trading, a Singapore-based sugar trading company.

"Timely purchases of raw materials and sale of products [are] critical in the commodities processing business," Wilmar said.

Analyst comment

While the group failed to give financial details of the deals, they were viewed "positively" by analysts at Malaysia-based AmResearch, which kept a "buy" rating on Wilmar shares, which it believes have a fair value of Sing$7.60.

"Windsor & Brook would provide Wilmar's future sugar business in Indonesia with a ready customer base while Jawamanis would help with the refining part of the sugar business," AmResearch said.

The deals follow Wilmar's acquisition of Australian sugar giant CSR last month, at which the Singapore-listed group gave notice of its intention to become a force in sugar, diversifying further from its palm oil heritage.

Wilmar shares stood 0.6% lower at Sing$6.22 in late trading.