Adani group firm Ambuja Cements acquires Penna Cement at valuation of Rs 10,422 crore

A binding agreement for the acquisition has been signed, which will add 14 MTPA capacity to Adani group, taking the total tally to 89 MTPA (million tonnes per annum).

Hyderabad: Ambuja Cements, the cement and building material company of Adani Cement and part of the diversified Adani group, on Thursday announced the signing of a binding agreement for the acquisition of Hyderabad based Penna Cement Industries Ltd (PCIL) at an enterprise value of Rs. 10,422 cr. Ambuja will acquire 100pc shares of PCIL from its existing promoter group, P Pratap Reddy and family. The acquisition will be fully funded through internal accruals.

PCIL has 14 MTPA cement capacity, of which 10 MTPA is operational in both the Telugus states and Maharashtra, and the remaining is under construction at Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh (2 MTPA) and Jodhpur in Rajasthan (2 MTPA) and will be completed within 6 to 12 months.

Around 90pc of the cement capacity comes with railway sidings, and some are supported by captive power plants and waste heat recovery systems. Further, surplus clinker at the Jodhpur plant will support an additional 3 MTPA cement grinding capacity over and above 14 MTPA.

“This landmark acquisition is a significant step forward in Ambuja Cement’s accelerating growth journey,” said Ambuja Cement CEO & Whole Time Director, Ajay Kapur.

“By acquiring PCIL, Ambuja is poised to expand its market presence in south India and reinforce its position as a pan-India leader in the cement industry. PCIL’s strategic location and sufficient limestone reserves provide an opportunity to increase cement capacity through debottlenecking and additional investment.

Importantly, the bulk cement terminals (BCTs) will prove to be a gamechanger by giving access to the eastern and southern parts of peninsular India, apart from an entry to Sri Lanka, through the sea route. Our aim is to make PCIL highly competitive on cost and productivity and improve its operating performance,” he added. The existing dealers of PCIL will move to Adani Cement’s market network.