ACC, Ambuja Cements hit 52-week highs

ACC was up 5% to Rs 1,717 and Ambuja Cements up 2% at Rs 268 on the BSE.

Shares of ACC and Ambuja Cements have touch their respective 52-week highs on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), in an otherwise subdued market.

ACC has rallied 5% to Rs 1,717 on the BSE after the company announced the commencement of commercial production from the new 2.79 million tonne per annum clinker facility at Jamul, located at Chhattisgarh.

“The company’s two new cement grinding facilities, one each at Jamul in Chhattisgarh and Sindri in Jharkhand, which form part of this integrated project, are expected to be commissioned within third quarter of 2016,” ACC said in statement.

This project will facilitate the company in serving its expanding customer base in the fast-growing market in East India, offering premium quality products like ACC F2R (Foundation to Roof), ACC Plus and Hi-performance PSC cements for complete concreting solutions, it added.

Ambuja Cements up 2% to Rs 268 on the BSE after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved the company’s proposal to buy 24% stake in its holding company Holcim India for Rs 3,500 crore.

Following this deal, Holcim India will merge with Ambuja Cements. Ambuja Cements will issue 58.4 million shares to Holcim India.

After the merger, Holcim India’s stake in Ambuja will stand cancelled and Ambuja will own 50.01% stake in ACC. With this, Holcim's stake in Ambuja Cements will rise from 50.55% to 61.39%. Ambuja, in turn, will buy Holcim's stake in ACC. In other words, once the deal is done, ACC will become a subsidiary of Ambuja Cements. LINK

Both these stocks – Ambuja Cements and ACC are trading near to their record highs of Rs 287 and Rs 1,775, respectively, touched in March 2015.