Adani buys Swiss cement giant Holcim’s India assets for $10.5bln

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India - Asia's richest man Gautam Adani's group on Sunday said it has clinched a deal to acquire a controlling stake in Swiss cement major Holcim's businesses in India for $10.5 billion, thus marking its entry into the cement sector, reported Press Trust of India.

Holcim, through its subsidiaries, holds 63.19 percent in Ambuja Cements and 54.53 percent in ACC (of which 50.05 percent is held through Ambuja Cements).

In a deal that propels the infrastructure conglomerate helmed by billionaire Gautam Adani as the second-largest cement maker in the country, the Indian ports-to-energy conglomerate will acquire both the Ambuja Cements and ACC's stakes.

"The value for the Holcim stake and open offer consideration for Ambuja Cements and ACC is $10.5 billion, which makes this the largest-ever acquisition by Adani, and India's largest-ever M&A transaction in the infrastructure and materials space," stated the report, citing a company statement.

With this, Adani now becomes India’s second largest cement manufacturer with a capacity of about 70 Metric Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA), the statement added.

"The corresponding offer share prices of Rs 385 for Ambuja Cement and Rs 2,300 for ACC translate into cash proceeds of CHF 6.4 billion for Holcim."

Adani has in the last couple of years diversified beyond its core business of operating ports, power plants and coal mines into airports, data centres and clean energy.

The group had last year set up two cement subsidiaries - Adani Cementation Ltd which was planning to set up two cement units at Dahej in Gujarat and Raigarh in Maharashtra; and Adani Cement.

Ambuja and ACC have a combined capacity to produce at least 70 million tonnes of cement annually, second to UltraTech Cement which has 120 million tonnes capacity.