Adani Group launches ₹31,000 cr open offer to acquire ACC, Ambuja Cements

Billionaire Gautam Adani-led Adani Group on Friday launched its ₹31,000 crore open offer to acquire a 26% stake each in Switzerland-based Holcim's two Indian listed entities ACC and Ambuja Cements. Endeavour Trade and Investment Ltd, a company incorporated in Mauritius by the Adani group, has made the open offer at a price of ₹385 per share for Ambuja Cements and ₹2,300 per share for ACC Ltd. The offer to acquire shares in two cement companies from their public shareholders opened today and will close on September 9.

Last week, the capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) approved the open offer. If fully subscribed, the offer is estimated to be worth around ₹31,000 crore.

In May this year, the Adani family had entered into definitive agreements for the acquisition of Holcim’s entire stake in ACC and Ambuja Cements for around $10.5 billion, making this the largest ever acquisition by Adani, and India’s largest ever M&A transaction in the infrastructure and materials space. Holcim, through its subsidiaries, holds 63.19% in Ambuja Cements and 54.53% in ACC - of which 50.05% is held through Ambuja Cements.

In separate exchange filings, ACC and Ambuja Cements have submitted details of the open offer, launched by the Adani family group's Mauritius-based firm Endeavour Trade and Investment. The offer is being managed by ICICI Securities and Deutsche Equities India, who are the managers to the offer.

As per the BSE filing, the Adani Group has made an open offer to the public shareholders of ACC to acquire up to 4.89 crore equity shares of the company, or 26% of the expanded share capital, for ₹11,259.97 crore.

For Ambuja Cements, the group has proposed to buy 51.63 crore equity shares in the company, or 26% of the expanded share capital, for total consideration of ₹19,879.57 crore.

This open offer has been triggered after the execution of the share purchase agreement between the Adani family and Holcim to buy a majority stake in the Indian cement business of the Swiss giant for an aggregate consideration of USD equivalent to ₹50,181.04 crore.

Ambuja Cements and ACC currently have a combined installed production capacity of around 70 million tonnes per annum (MTPA). The two companies have 23 cement plants, 14 grinding stations, 80 ready-mix concrete plants, and over 50,000 channel partners across India. The deal will make the Adani group India’s second-largest cement producer after Ultratech Cement, which is owned by the Aditya Birla Group.

Following the announcement, ACC shares were trading 0.24% higher at ₹2,290.60, while Ambuja Cements stocks were quoting at ₹398.40, up 0.33% on the BSE. In comparison, Adani Enterprises shares rose 2.96% to ₹3,157.65, while the BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 306 points, or 0.52%, higher at 59,081 levels.