Adani group to be India’s 2nd-largest cement manufacturer

TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ Billionaire Gautam Adani on Sunday won the race to acquire Swiss cement major Holcim’s stake in Ambuja Cements and its subsidiary ACC for $10.5 bn (around Rs 81,361 crore), including the open offers.

The Adani family, through an offshore special-purpose vehicle, announced that it had entered into definitive agreements for the acquisition of Holcim Ltd’s entire stake in two of India’s leading cement companies — Ambuja Cements and ACC — the Adani group said in a statement.

The group outbid Ultratech and JSW group to enter the cement industry and also emerge as the country’s second-largest cement manufacturer, with 70 million tonnes of capacity annually. Holcim owns 63.19 per cent in Ambuja Cement and 4.48 per cent in ACC. Ambuja Cement, in turn, owns 50.05 per cent in ACC.

The Adani family will make an open offer to buy 26 per cent in these two companies from non-promoter shareholders, as per market regulator, the Sebi’s norms. The value for the Holcim stake and open offer consideration makes this the largest ever acquisition by Adani, and India’s largest ever M&A transaction in the infrastructure and materials space.