Unbridled by raising concerns on debt-funded growth, Gautam Adani-led Adani Group launched its open offer to acquire 26 per cent additional stake each in Ambuja Cement and ACC for ₹31,000 crore.

The offer, which opened on Friday, did not elicit any tendering of shares as there was no much premium to the prevailing market price.

The shares of Ambuja Cement closed at ₹403 against the open offer price of ₹385 per share, while ACC ended marginally lower at ₹2,288 on the BSE against the offer price of ₹2,300 a piece.

“No equity shares were tendered in the escrow demat account as per the account statement received by the managers from Ventura Securities,” said both the companies in a statement on Friday.

The open offer follows an agreement signed by Adani Group with Swiss-headquartered Holcim to buy majority stake in its two publically listed cement companies. As per the revised schedule submitted by ICICI Securities and Deutsche Equities India, the open offer will end on September 9.

In May, the Adani Group had acquired the controlling stake in Holcim’s businesses in India for $10.5 billion (₹84,000 crore). The open offer is being made through the Adani family group’s Mauritius-based firm Endeavour Trade and Investment.

CCI yet to approve

Market regulator SEBI had granted approval for the open offer last week. However, the deal is yet to received approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) which had imposed a penalty of ₹1,164 crore on Ambuja Cement and another ₹1,148 crore on ACC.

Holcim, through its subsidiaries, holds 63.19 per cent in Ambuja Cement and 54.53 per cent in ACC (of which 50.05 per cent is held through Ambuja Cement).

Ambuja Cement and ACC currently have a combined installed production capacity of 70 million tonnes 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.

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