Adani buys Ambuja, ACC for $10.5 billion

The Adani family, through an offshore special purpose vehicle (SPV), said it had entered into definitive agreements for the acquisition of Switzerland-based Holcim Limited’s entire stake in Ambuja Cements Limited and ACC Limited, two of India’s leading cement companies.

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

An open offer has been made in accordance with regulatory norms.

“The value for the Holcim stake and open offer consideration for Ambuja Cements and ACC is USD 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,” the Adanis said in a statement.

This deal makes the Adanis the second largest cement player, after UltraTech Cement of the Aditya Birla Group.

“Our move into the cement business is yet another validation of our belief in our nation’s growth story,” Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group, said.

“Not only is India expected to remain one of the world’s largest demand-driven economies for several decades, India also continues to be the world’s second largest cement market and yet has less than half of the global average per capita cement consumption,” he said.

“In statistical comparison, China’s cement consumption is over seven times that of India’s. When these factors are combined with the several adjacencies of our existing businesses that include the Adani Group’s ports and logistics business, energy business, and real estate business, we believe that we will be able to build a uniquely integrated and differentiated business model and set ourselves up for significant capacity expansion,” he added.

“I am delighted that the Adani Group is acquiring our business in India to lead its next era of growth,” Jan Jenisch, CEO of Holcim Limited, said in a statement.

Ambuja Cements Limited and ACC Limited currently have a combined installed production capacity of 70 million tonnes per annum (MTPA). They have 23 cement plants, 14 grinding stations, 80 ready-mix concrete plants and over 50,000 channel partners across India.

“Both Ambuja and ACC will benefit from synergies with the integrated Adani infrastructure platform, especially in the areas of raw material, renewable power and logistics, where Adani Portfolio companies have vast experience and deep expertise. This will enable higher margins and return on capital employed for the two companies,” the Adani Group’s statement said.

The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and conditions.

The Adanis appear to be on an acquisition spree. On May 13, 2022 Adani Enterprises Limited informed the stock exchanges that its wholly owned subsidiary, AMG Media Networks Limited, has signed an agreement to acquire 49% stake in Quintillion Media Limited and Quintillion Business Media Limited. The deal, for an unspecified amount, also includes Quint Digital Media Limited.