Holcim, the Swiss cement giant, has acquired an Andhra-based coastal cement plant through its Indian arm, ACC. It is the first acquisition in the domestic cement industry in more than a year and a half.
ACC acquired a 100 per cent stake in Encore Cements & Additives Pvt Ltd (ECAPL). Encore has a 0.2-million-tonne slag grinding unit in Visakhapatnam. This is ACC’s third acquisition after Shiva Cement and Goa-based Alcon in the domestic market.
“The acquisition will help the company further strengthen its presence in coastal Andhra Pradesh,” ACC said in a statement today.
When contacted, ACC’s spokesperson and Encore’s officials declined to disclose the deal’s size. According to industry analysts, the deal size could be in the range of Rs 40 crore and Rs 50 crore, as valuation for a smaller plant in Andhra is less than $60 (Rs 2,775) a tonne.
With this latest acquisition, ACC will have its first plant in Andhra Pradesh. At present, the company has 15 plants, with an overall annual capacity of 25 million tonnes. Its plants in Karnataka are the main suppliers of cement to the Andhra market.
An email sent to Holcim failed to elicit any response.
