Big move by Gautam Adani: Ambuja Cements to acquire this cement brand for Rs 8100 crore

Billionaire Gautam Adani-led Adani Group on Tuesday said it will acquire CK Birla group firm Orient Cement at a valuation of Rs 8,100 crore as part of its expansion drive. Ambuja Cements, the cement and building material company of Adani Cement and part of the diversified Adani Group, has signed a binding agreement for the acquisition of Orient Cement Ltd (OCL) at an equity value of Rs. 8,100 crore.

As per that its step down unit "Ambuja will acquire 46.8 per cent shares of OCL from its current promoters and certain public shareholders", according to a joint statement.

The acquisition will be fully funded through internal accruals, it added.

The latest acquisition will add 16.6 MTPA (million tonne per annum) capacity to Adani Cement, which operates through Ambuja Cements in the sector.

In June this year, Adani had announced the acquisition of Hyderabad-based Penna Cement at an enterprise value of Rs 10,422 crore, which added 14 MTPA capacity to the country's second largest manufacturer.

"This timed acquisition marks another significant step forward in Ambuja Cements' accelerated growth journey, increasing cement capacity by ~30 MTPA within two years of Ambuja's acquisition," said Karan Adani, Director of Ambuja Cements.

By acquiring OCL, Ambuja is poised to reach 100 MTPA cement capacity in FY25, he said, adding, "the acquisition will help to expand Adani Cement's presence in core markets and improve its pan-India market share by 2 per cent." OCL has 5.6 MTPA clinker capacity and 8.5 MTPA cement capacity along with the statutory clearance to increase the clinker capacity by another 6.0 MTPA and cement capacity by another 8.1 MTPA.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from PTI)