Submits revised proposal to CCI as Birla Corp deal fails
Cement major Lafarge India Private Limited has launched 'Project Employability', a programme designed to train rural unemployed youth and make them self reliant.
Ahmedabad-based firm to fund deal through equal amount of equity and debt.
Shree Cement may join race; units in 3 more African countries may be sold.
Lafarge is in a drive to shed non-core assets to cut its debt to below 10 billion euros from 12.2 billion euros.
Larsen & Toubro, a cement and engineering conglomerate, said on Monday it had received a $103 million order from a unit of French building materials giant Lafarge to construct a cement plant in northern Bangladesh.
French cement major Lafarge SA, the world's second-largest cement maker, has emerged the frontrunner in the race to acquire the ready-mix concrete business of engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro.
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the plea of the central government to allow Lafarge, the French mining giant, to resume limestone mining in Meghalaya. It also ordered a fresh, and fast, environmental impact assessment.
Now with 13-14 million-tonne capacity, Nirma will emerge as a serious player in India's cement landscape.
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.
Cement-maker to increase capacity to 20 MT with three new units. After acquiring L&T Concrete and capturing over 25 per cent of the market share in ready-mix concrete space in the country, the cement major is set to establish a pan-India presence. The company has plans to set up at least three greenfield units with a capacity of 2.5 MT each. According to sources, the company has zeroed in on Rajasthan, Karnataka and Meghalaya for the facilities.
Nirma has roped in BCG and KPMG to advise it on the fundraising options for the acquisition. The company had earlier informed banks that it would raise Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 7,000 crore in the current financial year for the acquisition. Bankers said the company will rely on its funds and future GLS dividend to repay its debt for acquisition.
Ahmedabad-based Nirma group and leading private equity firms have joined the race to acquire BSE-listed Glenmark Life Sciences. The acquisition by chemicals-to-cement major Nirma, if successful, would be a major boost for the health-care segment of the group, on the lines of its successful entry into the cement sector following its purchase of Lafarge India's assets for about Rs 9,400 crore in July 2016. It later followed up by buying Emami cement assets for Rs 5,500 crore in February 2020.
Nirma's tryst with the pharmaceutical space started in 2006 when it acquired the ailing Core Healthcare in a deal reported to be worth Rs 300 crore. The Ahmedabad-based manufacturer of intravenous fluids was subsequently renamed Nirlife. Pharma industry insiders say Nirma, which broke open the detergent market in the 1990s with low prices and massive advertising, tried an encore of the low-price strategy in pharma, but with mixed results.
Nirma has jumped into the ongoing cricket spectacle - IPL - as the principal sponsor for the Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore to raise awareness and recognition for the cement brands it acquired after its purchase of the erstwhile Lafarge India's assets in 2016
The proposals, approved by Finance Minister P Chidambaram on the recommendation of Foreign Investment Promotion Board, also included the offer from cement manufacturer Lafarge India for merger of Lafarge India Holding Pvt Ltd with Lafarge India Pvt Ltd, according to the finance ministry. The Lafarge's proposal was cleared as per the order of Bombay high court, a finance ministry statement said.
The Essar Oil, Rosneft deal also helped Arpwood Capital, boutique investment bank, co-founded by Rajeev Gupta and Raj Kataria, to grab the second spot in the mergers and acquisitions league table.
Many see Nirma's Lafarge deal as some kind of second coming for the Patels.
Karsanbhai Patel's risk-taking abilities are on display once again.
The Lafarge mining case has highlighted the appalling weakness of the environmental clearance procedures at all levels, writes Latha Jishnu.
At least four global cement majors, Lafarge, CRH, Heidelberg Cement and Intalicementi, are in the race to buy a little-known cement company in Maharashtra Murli Industries with a total capacity of 2.9 million tonnes.
Robrecht Himpe, who is the CEO Flat Europe and Amaud Poupart-Lafarge (Africa and CIS) are the new members of the management committee. Further, Andre van den Bossche and Narendra Chaudhary would be retiring from the committee in due course. Bossche is in charge of Global Trade Policy, Steel Contact Groups, Mandates and Associations while Chaudhary is the CEO Africa and CIS.
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.
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.
With the acquisition of 14.8 per cent stake in Gujarat Ambuja Cements Ltd, by Swiss cement major Holcim, foreign players, including Lafarge, would be controlling nearly 25 per cent of total production in the country.
We asked you Dear Readers for your memories, photographs and videos of your meeting with M S Dhoni.
The year 2015 will be a tough year for mergers and acquisition.
This is the latest in a series of large office space buyouts by RMZ Corp which has created a portfolio of rent-yielding commercial assets in India.
Delaying action on climate change will hurt growth: Global CEOs.
This was mostly driven by Qatar Foundation Endowment's $1.26 billion investment in Bharti Airtel.
Like their international peers, Indian CEOs too have a significant portion of their incomes coming from stock options and performance-linked bonuses
Broader gains were capped as investors awaited corporate results from major firms
Cross previous high of $72 billion in 2007 as Indian promoters overcome the selling taboo. Abhineet Kumar reports from Mumbai.
Modi urged the Swiss business leaders to explore the investment opportunities in India.
Top 100 billionaires see their wealth rise 10%; top 20 account for half of total wealth of top 100.
'Today, according to the law, you can't even claim legal expenses when fighting a case as a non-executive director unless you are acquitted. Given how high legal expenses are, that alone is enough to scare anyone away.'
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