Birla's UltraTech buys JP's cement plants for Rs 16,500 cr

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Aditya Birla Group firm UltraTech today announced acquisition of debt-ridden JP Group's cement plants for Rs 16,500 crore (about USD 2.5 billion), making it one of the biggest deals in the sector.

UltraTech Cement said it entered into a binding Memorandum of Understanding with Jaiprakash Associates Limited for the acquisition of its identified cement plants having total cement capacity of 22.4 MTPA (million tons per annum) situated in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

This includes a 4 MTPA plant under implementation at a cost of Rs 470 crore, UltraTech said in a statement.

A number of Indian and foreign players were said to have been in the race for these cement plants.

UltraTech said the assets will give it access to the newer markets of Satna, UP East, Himachal Pradesh and Coastal Andhra where it does not have a presence as of now.

"Upon consummation of the proposed transaction, the company's cement capacity will stand augmented to 90.7 MTPA (current 68.3 MTPA)," it added.

The two groups have agreed to an enterprise value of Rs 16,500 crore for the deal, which is subject to definitive agreements and necessary regulatory approvals, the statement added.

It was not clear whether the deal includes the two cement plants of JP group whose purchase was called off last week by UltraTech on account of lack of necessary approvals.

UltraTech had said on Friday it was calling off that deal with Jaiprakash Associates, which has been selling its cement and power assets to pare debt and improve balance sheet.

In December 2014, UltraTech had said it will acquire JAL's Bela unit (Madhya Pradesh), which has 2.1 MTPA clinker and 2.6 MTPA cement grinding capacity.

The other unit, located at Sidhi also in Madhya Pradesh, has 3.1 MTPA clinker and 2.3 MTPA cement grinding capacity.

Both units have a total of 180 MW power generation capacity.