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  4. News from India – expansion, investments, fundraising

News from India – expansion, investments, fundraising

 

World Cement,

JK Lakshmi Cement

JK Lakshmi Cement needs to raise Rs.800 crore to part finance the greenfield project that will give it a foothold in the central and eastern markets.

The company is establishing a 2.7 million tpa cement plant in Chhattisgarh at a total cost of Rs.1200 crore. The plant is due for commissioning in 2011, after which the company’s total production capacity will stand at 6.35 million t. Further plans to increase capacity to 8 million t over five years are afoot, and construction of a 12 MW waste heat recovery plant in Rajasthan is already underway.

The Rs.800 crore will be raised through debt and equity, with the remainder found from internal accrual. A timeline for the fundraising has not yet been announced.

Meanwhile, Credit Analysis & Research has upgraded the rating assigned to the company from A+ to AA-.

Jaiprakash Associates

Jaiprakash Associates (JAL) has this month approved plans to raise Rs.500 crore through short-term debt. The company is also divesting Rs.6 crore of equity shares in subsidiary company Jaypee Infratech.

JAL’s cement shipments have been doing well this year, with October’s figures reported at 41.3% above October 2008. Reports have also surfaced that BHEL, a state-run supplier of power equipment, has been awarded an Rs.5600 crore contract by a division of JAL to supply a 1980-MW thermal power plant in Uttar Pradesh.

The contract incorporates three 660 MW units for the Prayagraj Thermal Power Project, including designing, manufacturing and commissioning of turbines, generators and boilers, and instrumentation of the systems.

Ultratech

Further to previous reports last month, the absorbtion of Samruddhi Cement into Aditya Birla sister company UltraTech Cement has now been approved. Samruddhi Cement was first extracted from Grasim Industries, before merging into UltraTech. The move makes Aditya Birla the world’s tenth largest cement manufacturer, with capacity of 48.8 million t.

"The merger will achieve the group's objective of consolidating its cement business into a single entity, thereby creating a platform that will help in pursuing aggressive growth going forward," Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of Aditya Birla Group, said in a statement.
 

As production increases, prices fall

The Indian cement industry has reported a huge production increase in the large fiscal, causing prices to drop in the last few months.

Indian export markets drop

India’s per capita cement consumption is amongst the lowest in the world, and the country’s cement industry is heavily export-based. The recent decline in the export markets is proving a cause for concern for some manufacturers, although October shipment figures are generally strong.

Grasim consolidates cement business

Grasim Industries Ltd will transfer its cement business to its subsidiary unit Samruddhi Cement, which will eventually be merged with Ultratech Cement.

Indian cement shipments generally up in August

The slow progress of the monsoon in India has resulted in strong figures for cement manufacturers’ August shipments. High demand is reflected in the similarly strong performance of the cargo truck and rail industries.