JK Cement to set up Rs 750-cr plant in UAE

JK Cement today said it would invest over Rs 750 crore to set up a white cement plant in the United Arab Emirates, through a subsidiary, with capacity to produce 0.6 million tonne a year.

The greenfield plant, which will come up at the Fujairah Free Trade Zone, will also have provision to change over to produce grey cement, JK Cement said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

"The board has approved setting up of cement plant at JK Cement Works (Fujairah) FZC with production capacity of 0.6 million tonne per annum of white cement with a provision to change over to 1.01 million tonne per annum grey cement at a total outlay of $150 million," it said.

The plant would be set up by its subsidiary JK Cement Works (Fujairah) in which Fujairah Investment, an undertaking of the Fujairah government has 10% stake.

The project would be funded at a debt equity ratio of 2:1, the statement said.

The company had earlier indicated that the plant would be of much bigger size, but subsequently changed its mind to go for a smaller one in view of the "change in business scenario in the UAE".

JK Cement has five manufacturing plants in Rajasthan and Karnataka with a total capacity of 7.5 million tonne per annum. It has plans to double the capacity to 15 million tonne per annum by 2015.