The Adani group, which has ramped up its presence in India’s cement sector through a bunch of acquisitions, is reportedly in talks to acquire Star Cement, which has a significant presence in North East.
The reports led to the shares of Star Cement climbing almost 14 per cent to a high of ₹222.95 on the BSE. It closed at 207.90, a gain of 5.99 per cent or ₹11.75 over the last close. The company has a market capitalisation of ₹8,403 crore.
Star Cement has denied the news. “The above mentioned news item is speculative and the company is not engaged in any discussions in this regard. We further state categorically that the above mentioned news item published..is factually incorrect,’’ the company said in a filing to the stock exchanges.
The bourses had sought clarification from the company following reports of potential acquisition by the Adani group.
Earlier, website Moneycontrol said Ambuja Cements was in talks to acquire Star Cement. The report added that Ambuja Cements has appointed EY for evaluating the deal.
The company has an installed capacity of 7.7 million tonnes (mt) in the region that includes a 1.67mt integrated cement plant in Meghalaya and four grinding units, with plans to increase capacity to 25mt by 2030.
The promoters hold 66.47 per cent in the company.
In October, Ambuja Cements had announced the acquisition of a 46.8 per cent stake in CK Birla group firm Orient Cement Ltd (OCL).
The transaction was done at an equity value of ₹8,100 crore.
OCL has 5.6mt clinker capacity and 8.5mt cement capacity along with statutory clearance to increase the clinker capacity by another 6mt and cement capacity by another 8.1mt.
Ambuja Cements had a consolidated capacity of 77mt as of March 31, 2024. It then acquired Penna Cement and My Home Group’s Tamil Nadu-based grinding unit which increased the capacity by another 12mt.
In September 2022, the Adani group had completed the acquisition of Holcim India’s cement business making it the country’s second largest cement firm.
Star Cement on Wednesday said it plans to expand its capacity by an additional two million tonnes through a greenfield project in Assam’s Silchar at a cost of ₹400 crore.
The expansion is expected to be completed within the next two years, the firm said.