Adani Group in talks to buy Jaiprakash's cement units for Rs 5,000 crore

Adani group is in talks to buy the cement businesses of debt-laden Jaypee Group for about Rs 5,000 crore as the conglomerate helmed by the richest Asian consolidates its presence in a sector it entered a few weeks back. Sources said Adani group is in advanced talks with the management of Jaiprakash Associates and the deal could be announced shortly.

Both Adani group and Jaypee group declined to comment. The ports-to-energy conglomerate had recently forayed into the cement sector with the acquisition of Ambuja Cements and ACC Ltd to become the nation's second-largest cement maker with annual production capacity of 67.5 million tonnes.

Jaypee group had sold its cement business to UltraTech but a few units were still housed in group firms. The boards of Jaiprakash Associates Ltd and Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd on Monday approved plans to divest their cement business as well as some non-core assets to reduce debt. If the deal goes through, Adani would get nearly 10 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of capacity from the Jaypee group.

Gautam Adani, chairman and managing director, had last month announced plans to double his group's cement manufacturing capacity to 140 million tonnes per annum by 2030. UltraTech, the nation's largest cement manufacturer, has a production capacity of 119.95 MTPA and has plans to raise it to 159.25 MPTA.