After a longish lull, billionaire Kumar Birla, is back on the acquisition trail. His Aditya Birla Group, a $29 billion (revenues) commodities conglomerate, has concluded an agreement to acquire US-based Columbian Chemicals Company, the world’s third-largest producer of carbon black, for about $875 million.

The deal, which is expected to close later this year, has been struck with One Equity Partners, the investment banking arm of JPMorgan Chase & Co, Columbian’s sole owner since 2009. The purchase makes Birla the world’s largest producer of carbon black, a material of fine particles that is used to reinforce rubber and finds its way in a variety of products, mainly automobile tires.

Headquartered in Georgia state, the nearly century-old Columbian has 11 factories in 9 countries and employs 1,300 people. Aditya Birla Group’s carbon black interests are spread across four companies in India, Egypt, Thailand and China. Alexandria Carbon Black is a joint venture with the Egyptian government. Its Liaoning Birla carbon in China, a partnership with Dashiqiao Ronghua Co, is in operation since 2003. Birla’s Thai Carbon Black frequently qualifies for a spot on Forbes Asia’s Best Under a Billion list of companies.

The Columbian deal more than doubles the Group’s carbon black capacity to 2 million tons and expands its footprint to North and South America and Europe. It fits in with Birla’s avowed goal of achieving global size and scale in all his businesses. “Our vision has been to be a premium carbon black player, global in size and reach. The acquisition of Columbian Chemicals, which takes us closer to our vision, is a perfect fit for Birla Carbon, ” said Birla in a press statement.

“This buy makes the Aditya Birla group into a serious global player in carbon black. It’s a very sensible deal, “said R.Sankaran, an investment banker in Mumbai. Birla’s last big acquisition, that of North American aluminum maker Novelis for $6 billion in 2007 had been dubbed as anything but sensible and he was criticized for overpaying. Birla, India’s tenth richest person with a fortune of $8.5 billion, proved his critics wrong by working diligently to put Novelis back on a profitable path. As one of the lowest cost producers of carbon black, he has a good chance of a repeat performance with Columbian.