UltraTech to Buy Jaiprakash Cement Plants For $2.4 Billion
UltraTech Cement Ltd , part of the Aditya Birla conglomerate, said on Sunday it had agreed to buy Jaiprakash Associates Ltd's cement plants for an enterprise value of 165 billion rupees ($2.4 billion).
UltraTech, beating competition from domestic and international bidders for the assets, said in a statement it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Jaiprakash to acquire plants whose capacity totalled 22 million tonnes a year.
The agreement will increase India's biggest cement maker's installed capacity by one-third to 90.7 million tonnes annually, and provide infrastructure firm Jaiprakash with much-needed relief to pare its debts.
Other companies interested in Jaiprakash's plants included Irish building materials group CRH and India's Dalmia Cement, sources told Reuters th...