May 15 (Reuters) – Adani has acquired a majority stake in Swiss firm Holcim AG’s cement business in India as part of a $10.5 billion deal to become the country’s second-largest cement producer, it said.
Gautam Adani’s conglomerate, Asia’s biggest fortune, has acquired a 63.19% stake in Ambuja Cement Ltd. and its subsidiary ACC in the framework of the call for tender. Ambuja and ACC have a combined production capacity of at least 70 million tonnes of cement per year, second only to UltraTech Cement.
The Adani family, through an offshore special purpose entity, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Holcim Ltd’s entire stake in Ambuja and ACC, the Adani group said in a statement.
Holcim, for its part, said it had signed a binding agreement for the Adani Group to acquire Holcim’s India operations, including its stake in Ambuja Cement – which holds a 50.05% stake in ACC – as well as its direct stake of 4.48. % in ACC. Holcim will receive nearly $6.4 billion.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of 2022, Holcim said.
The divestment is Holcim’s latest move to reduce its dependence on cement production, which releases high levels of carbon and therefore drives away many environmentally conscious investors. (Report of Mrinmay Dey, Rajendra Jadhav and Rupam Jain, French version of Benjamin Mallet)
