Adani's Ambuja to acquire 46.8% stake in Orient Cement

Adani group’s Ambuja Cements on Tuesday announced its third acquisition of the current financial year, with a binding agreement to acquire 46.8% stake in C K Birla’s family-owned Orient Cement Limited (OCL) for an equity value of Rs 810 billion. The deal, which will trigger an open offer, will take Adani group’s cement capacity to 97.4 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), but still lags behind India’s largest producer, UltraTech Cement, which has a capacity of 150.7 mtpa. In order to comply with market rules, Ambuja Cements will make an open offer of Rs 395.40 per share to the public shareholders of OCL. The company, it said, plans to acquire 37.90% from the promoters of OCL and another 8.90% from other shareholders under the share purchase agreement. In addition, another 26 per cent of the increased share capital under the open offer. Orient Cement closed at Rs 343.40 per share on Tuesday, down 2.5 per cent.