Adani Group launches Rs 31,000 crore open offer for Ambuja Cements, ACC

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 open offer is estimated at over Rs 31,000 crore if fully subscribed.

In two separate regulatory filings, Ambuja Cements and ACC have submitted their letter of offers for the open offer, launched by the Adani family group's Mauritius-based firm Endeavour Trade and Investment.

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As per the revised schedule submitted by ICICI Securities and Deutsche Equities India, managers to the open offer, the tendering of shares opens from August 26 and will end on September 9, 2022.

In May, the Adani Group had made an open offer at Rs 385 per share for Ambuja Cements and Rs 2,300 per share for ACC.

For Ambuja Cements, the group had made an open offer to the public shareholders to acquire up to 51.63 crore equity shares, representing 26 per cent of the expanded share capital, aggregating to Rs 19,879.57 crore.

For ACC Ltd, the group had offered to acquire up to 4.89 crore shares held by public shareholders, representing 26 per cent of the expanded share capital, aggregating to Rs 11,259.97 crore.

Shares of ACC Ltd were trading at Rs 2283.15 in morning trade on BSE, lower by 0.09 per cent over its previous closing of Rs 2285.15.

The Ambuja Cements stock was trading at Rs 396.50 on the BSE in early trade, down 0.15 per cent over its previous close of Rs 397.10.

The open offer has been triggered following the execution of the share purchase agreement between the Adani Group and Holcim to acquire controlling stake in the latter's businesses in India.

Endeavour Trade and Investment is promoted by Acropolis Trade and Investment Ltd, which is held by certain members of the Adani family.

On May 15, the Adani Group had announced a deal to acquire a controlling stake in Holcim Ltd's businesses in India for $10.5 billion (around Rs 83,920 crore current value), marking the ports-to-energy conglomerate's entry into the cement sector.

Adani Group will acquire 63.1 per cent of Ambuja Cements along with related assets. Ambuja's local subsidiaries include ACC Ltd, which is also publicly traded.

Swiss building material major Holcim, through its subsidiaries, holds 63.19 per cent in Ambuja Cements and 54.53 per cent in ACC (of which 50.05 per cent is held through Ambuja Cements).

Ambuja Cements and ACC currently have a combined installed production capacity of 70 million tonne per annum. The two companies together have 23 cement plants, 14 grinding stations, 80 ready-mix concrete plants and over 50,000 channel partners across India.