Adani acquires Orient Cement for Rs 8,100 cr

New Delhi: Adani Group on Tuesday said it has agreed to acquire CK Birla group firm Orient Cement Ltd in a deal valued at Rs8,100 crore, as billionaire Gautam Adani-run conglomerate snaps up smaller rivals to challenge India’s top cement maker UltraTech. Adan Group-owned Ambuja Cement, India’s No.2 cement maker, will buy 46.8 per cent of its founders including Chairman CK Birla, and certain public shareholders for Rs3,791 crore. This would trigger an open offer for an additional 26 per cent stake in Orient, according to a company statement.

“This timed acquisition marks another significant step forward in Ambuja Cements’ accelerated growth journey, increasing cement capacity by 30 million tonnes per annum within two years of Ambuja’s acquisition,” said Karan Adani, Director of Ambuja Cements. “By acquiring OCL, Ambuja is poised to reach 100 million tonnes cement capacity in FY25. The acquisition will help expand Adani Cement’s presence in core markets and improve its pan-India market share by 2 per cent.”

Orient, which has two cement plants in the south and one in western India, will be Ambuja’s second acquisition this year. It will add 8.5 million tonnes to take Ambuja’s operational capacity to 97.4 million tonnes.

The Adani group has plans in the works to raise this to 140 million tonnes a year by 2028, just a shade below market leader UltraTech’s current capacity of 149.5 million tonnes (154.9 million tonnes after including overseas plans). While Adani Group snapped Hyderabad-based Penna Cement for Rs10,422 crore in June this year and had acquired Saurashtra-based Sanghi Industries Ltd for Rs5,185 crore in December last.