Jaiprakash Associates' sharholders approve sale of cement biz

Debt-laden Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL) today said its shareholders have approved the sale of the firm's cement business to Aditya Birla Group's UltraTech Cement.
Earlier this year, the Aditya Birla Group firm announced acquisition of Jaiprakash Associates' cement plants with a total capacity of 21.1 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) at an enterprise value of Rs 16,189 crore.
JAL in a regulatory filing informed about the outcome of the court-convened meeting of the equity shareholders held on October 22, 2016.
The shareholders approved "Scheme of Arrangement (merger) between Jaiprakash Associates (JAL) and Jaypee Cement Corporation (JCCL) and UltraTech Cement and their respective shareholders and creditors", it added.

According to the deal, UltraTech will pay Rs 16,189 crore to buy Jaypee Group's cement operations that have a total capacity of 17.2 MTPA spread across Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Andhra Pradesh.
In addition, it will acquire a 4 MTPA grinding unit being constructed in Uttar Pradesh.

Of this, 11.2 MTPA capacity is in Central India, 5 MTPA in coastal Andhra Pradesh and 4.8 MTPA in Himachal Pradesh.
While presenting the July-September quarter results, UltraTech said: "Transaction is expected to complete in next 5-6 months."
It added that approval from Competition Commission of India (CCI) has been received and the next step involves seeking approval from the concerned High Court and the final approval from capital markets regulator SEBI.