Aditya Birla Group has acquired a stake in South India’s largest cement empire. Srinivasan exits India Cements after giving up company shares for Rs.3954 crore. Check out a news package about it.
Headquartered in Chennai, India Cements is the 9th largest listed cement company in India by revenue.
About 13 mega tonnes of cement is produced annually in South India and 1.5 mega tonnes of cement in Rajasthan.
The 80-year-old Srinivasan, a former International Cricket Council president and former Board of Control for Cricket in India chairman, has been the chairman of India Cements.
His father T.S. Following the demise, 23-year-old N Srinivasan, who was studying chemical engineering in the US, was appointed deputy managing director. After gradually growing, Srinivasan has been holding the post of Chairman of India Cements since 1989.
Founded in 1946 by S.N.Sankaralinga Iyer, the company’s first cement factory was started in 1949 at Thalayut in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu.
India Cements owned seven integrated plants in Tamil Nadu, Tengana and Andhra Pradesh, Trinetra Cement plant in Rajasthan and one plant in Maharashtra.
It has the largest footprint in the South Indian cement industry with three major brands namely Sankar Cement, Coromandel Cement and Rasi Gold at its disposal.
Alta Tech Cement had already bought 7,05,64,656 shares of India Cements at a price of Rs.268 last June. Through this, Aditya Birla Group bought 22.77 percent shares of India Cements.
In this case, last Sunday, the management board of Ultra Tech has approved the purchase of 32.72 percent shares of India Cements.
With this, Ultra Tech has signed an agreement to buy 10,13,91,231 shares of India Cements for the second time at a price of Rs.390 per share for a total of Rs.3954 crore.
Through this deal, UltraTech has acquired around 55 percent stake in India Cements.
Apart from this, UltraTech is also acquiring 6.44 per cent stake from Gurunath of India Cements and Rupa Gurunath, trustee of Financial Services Trust.
High production cost pressures, pricing problems due to competition and changes in the sales market have become unmanageable. India Cements Managing Director N.Srinivasan has said that it was because of this that he decided to sell the shares of the company to Ultratech Cement.
Addressing the employees of India Cements, he thanked the employees for their dedication and hard work over the years and said that there will be no change in the career of the employees. He also said that the Birla Group has personally assured him that the same principles as practiced in India Cements will be followed.
So, anyone working at India Cements need not fear about the future,” India Cements Managing Director N.Srinivasan said.
Meanwhile, Srinivasan, who was first the BCCI’s secretary and then its president, made a splash when the Indian Premier League was launched in 2008 when India Cements bid for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Srinivasan is credited with making CSK proud of today’s IPL.
