'About $8.5 billion in free cash, about $3 billion as annual debt refinancing, and $3 billion-4 billion in fresh borrowing. An additional $1.6 billion-1.8 billion will come from development profits in 2025-26.'
The Adani Group plans to invest a record $15-20 billion across businesses over the next five years to chart out the next phase of growth, chairman Gautam Adani said on Tuesday as he touted the conglomerate's strong balance sheet and robust business to shrug off relentless scrutiny it faces. Record earnings from the businesses ranging from seaports to airports, renewable energy parks to data centres, cement to gas and electricity has built India's largest infrastructure group that not only exists just to serve the markets but to serve the nation's destiny, he said.
Swiss building material major Holcim has said its $6.38 billion deal with Asia's richest man Gautam Adani's group is tax-free. Holcim had on Sunday signed a binding agreement with the Adani Group to sell its business in India -- about a 63 per cent stake in Ambuja Cement, which owns a 54.53 stake in ACC (of which 4.48 per cent is direct shareholding). "So, according to our analysis, it is a tax-free transaction," Holcim CEO Jan Jenisch said while addressing investors after the deal on Monday." When asked about the tax implications, he said: "Never know if any complication arises, but we assume that we will get the 6.4 billion Swiss Francs as net proceeds." As per the deal, Adani Group will acquire Holcim's full stake in Ambuja Cement and ACC for CHF (Swiss franc) 6.4 billion ($6.38 billion).
After cement, billionaire Gautam Adani's group and Kumar Mangalam Birla's Aditya Birla Group are set for a face-off in the wires and cable business with both conglomerates announcing forays into the high double-digit growth sector.
Gujarat Ambuja Cement and Holcim on Thursday announced the completion of financial closure of Rs 3,540 crore (Rs 35.40 billion) for Ambuja Cement India.
As per Sebi's regulations, the proposed deal as such need approval from majority of public shareholders in the two listed companies -- ACC and Ambuja Cements-- as the transaction involves their promoters.
Eco-Chaupal, a self-sustaining and affordable eco-friendly home, designed by Indian industrialist Satya Sheel, has bagged the coveted 'Holcim Acknowledgement Award for Sustainable Development in Beijing.
Move by Swiss cement major Holcim to simplify its Indian structure has not gone down well with institutional investors.
Cement major Gujarat Ambuja Cements Ltd on Monday said Holderind Investments Ltd (Holcim Mauritius) has 14.8 per cent stake in the company.
The acquisitions, costing more than $1.6 billion, have helped Holcim corner close to quarter of the country's 189 million-tonne cement market. Lafarge, which entered India in 1999 by acquiring the cement division of Tata Steel and bought out Raymond's cement facility in 2001, has a capacity of only 5.5 million tonnes. Holcim also plans to invest around Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) in the next five years to set up plants.
Swiss cement major, Holcim, promoter of two of India's biggest cement companies, ACC and Ambuja Cements, said there is no escape from increasing the cement prices in the country considering the high energy costs.
In a move aimed at consolidating its Indian operations, Swiss cement major Holcim will increase its control in ACC and Gujarat Ambuja Cements for close to Rs 2,700 crore (Rs 27 billion).
Swiss cement maker Holcim, which had made an open offer to pick up 36.20 per cent shares of ACC, would also buy out the stakeholding of US-based AIG and GIC of Singapore in Ambuja Cement India Limited
Aditya Birla Group and Holcim are rapidly increasing capacity in a bid to become the largest player in India's cement industry.
Holcim Ltd, the world's second largest cement producer, has made a $800 million bid to acquire Associated Cement Company Ltd, India's largest cement manufacturer.
There has been a sharp slowdown in revenue and profit growth in the cement sector in recent quarters but it is yet to show in the share prices of cement companies. On the contrary, there has been a rally in cement stocks and a re-rating of their equity valuation in the past three years despite an earnings contraction during the period.
The open offers for the shareholders of Ambuja Cements and ACC will begin from July 6 and close on July 19, as per a tentative schedule published by the Adani family today. With an investment of $4 billion (Rs 31,139 crore), together these two open offers might constitute the biggest open offer in corporate Indian history. The mandatory open offer for the companies was made by a Mauritius based company owned by the Adani family after they acquired a 63 per cent stake in Ambuja and 4.5 per cent in ACC from Swiss cement major, Holcim for $6.5 billion. Ambuja owns a 50 per cent stake in ACC.
Holcim, the world's second-biggest cement producer, on Tuesday said it would spend almost $600m to expand in India, underlining the determination of leading manufacturers to tap into key growth markets.
Undeterred by slowdown in infrastructure and other related sectors, Swiss cement maker Holcim on Tuesday said it will go ahead with its $2 billion India expansion plans for enhancing capacities by 2010.
The deal price of Rs 138.65 a share is 32 per cent higher than the Rs 105 a share that Holcim paid in January.
Ultratech Cement's acquisition of a 23 per cent stake in Tamil Nadu-based India Cements is another instance of growing consolidation in the cement market in India. The deal will raise Ultratech's share, based on India Cements' revenues in FY24, in the domestic market by 230 basis points if the latter is formally acquired by the former in due course. India Cements' share was up 11.5 per cent on Thursday on market expectations of an open offer.
Adani Group on Friday launched its Rs 31,000-crore open offer to acquire 26 per cent additional stake from the public shareholders of Swiss firm Holcim's two Indian listed entities ACC Ltd and Ambuja Cements. In May this year, the Adani Group had announced that it had clinched a deal to acquire a controlling stake in Holcim Ltd's businesses in India for $10.5 billion. Markets regulator Sebi granted approval for the open offer last week.
The possible acquisition of Holcim India business will be one of the biggest inbound corporate deals in the country. Currently, Walmart Inc.'s $16-billion acquisition of Flipkart Online Services in 2018 remains the biggest acquisition of an Indian asset by any acquirer, followed by BP plc acquisition of 30 per cent stake in Reliance Industries' 23 oil and gas production blocks in 2011 for $7.2 billion. Bloomberg reported late on Wednesday night that Holcim - the world's biggest cement maker - is considering a potential sale of its India business and gauging interest in its controlling stake in Ambuja Cement.
The much-talked-about sale of Ambuja Cement and ACC by Holcim Group will see the single-biggest outflow of foreign capital from the country if the two cement firms are acquired by Indian investors. The deal, valued at nearly $10.35 billion, will put in the shade Cairn Energy Plc's exit from India in 2010, when it sold Cairn India to Vedanta Group for $4.48 billion. According to various reports, big business groups such as AV Birla, JSW Group, and Adani Group are in the fray to acquire Holcim's assets in India.
India's largest cement firm, Ultratech Cement, has joined the race to acquire the Holcim stake in Ambuja Cements and its subsidiary, ACC. UltraTech - part of the Aditya Birla Group - submitted a non-binding bid on Wednesday. Swiss multinational Holcim, which manufactures building material, is exiting India by selling its 63.19% stake in Ambuja Cements. According to banking sources, UltraTech has submitted a plan to Holcim, outlining divestiture details that would meet the norms set by anti-trust body Competition Commission of India.
The chairman of the JSW Group of companies, Sajjan Jindal, whose stake in the group is valued at $14.5 billion (Rs 1.1 trillion), is betting $4.5 billion of his personal fortune in the firm's bid for Ambuja Cements. According to bankers, Jindal's contribution will be a combination of share sale and debts raised by pledging the stake of the target entities with private equities. The JSW Group chairman has offered $7 billion for Ambuja Cements, including $2.5 billion of investments from private equities, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
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.
Fuelled by the $57.8-billion merger of HDFC twins (HDFC Ltd and HDFC Bank), M&A (merger and acquisition) transactions in India touched a record high of $124.2 billion in the first half of 2022-23. Bankers said with several transactions, including the government's stake sale in IDBI Bank and Hindustan Zinc in the pipeline, the ongoing financial year will end up as the best year for M&A activity in the country. Apart from the HDFC transaction, the $6.5-billion acquisition of Holcim stake by the Adani family and L&T's $3.2-billion acquisition of Mindtree added to the record transactions in the first half of FY23.
Billionaire Gautam Adani's son Karan will helm the cement firms his group has acquired to become India's second largest cement player and extend his burgeoning empire that spans from ports and energy to airports and telecom.
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