Ambuja Cements | Adani
After takeover, Adani Group announces infusion of Rs 20,000 cr in Ambuja Cements
Mumbai: The Adani Group completed the acquisition of Ambuja Cement and its listed subsidiary ACC on Friday, becoming India's largest conglomerate by market capitalisation and also announced a record preferential issue of stocks.
After the takeover, the company overhauled the boards of the two listed entities and announced an infusion of funds into Ambuja Cements through a preferential allotment of shares to further strengthen its balance sheet and meet the capital requirements for capacity enhancement, further acquisitions and investments in technology.
The shares will be issued to Harmonia Trade and Investment, which is listed as a promoter entity of Adani Green Energy.
This is well over the preferential allotment of Rs 16,824 crore by Reliance Industries in favour of its promoters.
The preferential shares of Ambuja Cements would be issued at a price of Rs 418.87, a premium of almost 9 percent over Rs 385 that the company offered per share during the open offer.
"What makes cement an exciting business is the headroom for growth in India, which exceeds that of every other country well beyond 2050," Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani said in a statement.
"Cement is a game of economics dependent on energy costs, logistics and distribution costs, and the ability to leverage a digital platform to transform production as well as gain significant supply chain efficiencies," Adani said.
On May 15, Adani Group had acquired Holcim's stake in Ambuja Cement and its subsidiary ACC at a price tag of $10.5 billion (around Rs 81,361 crore).
Holcim held 63.19 percent in Ambuja Cement and 4.48 percent in ACC Ltd. Ambuja Cement, in turn, owned 50.05 percent in ACC.
At present, Aditya Birla group, which owns the brand ultra tech cement, is India's top cement producer at a capacity of 117 metric tonnes per annum.
Aditya Birla Group was also in the race to buy Holcim's stake after the company announced its exit from India.
The acquisition was made by the Adani Family through Endeavour Trade and Investment Ltd, a special purpose vehicle.
The new board of Ambuja Cement will be chaired by Gautam Adani. His son Karan Adani will chair the board of ACC.
NS Sekhsaria, the industrialist who founded Ambuja Cement and remained as its non-executive chairman after the sale of the company to Holcim, has been now designated as chairman emeritus.
Most of the Holcim-appointed board members of the two companies submitted their resignations on Friday, paving way for Adani-appointed boards.
Former State Bank of India Chairman Rajnish Kumar joined the Ambuja Cement board as an independent director.
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