Cement Industry's Merger and Acquisitions

Indian Cement Industry Consolidation

India's cement industry seems all set to see an increase in merger and acquisitions. Global majors like LafargeHolcim and Heidelberg, among others are looking to increase their cement marketing presence in India by opting for the easier brownfield route. Indian cement are not lagging in their M&A's as seen in the recent Birla-Lafarge deal which will bring the MP Birla Group's Birla Corp among the top 10 cement players in the country with capacity of approx. 15 million tonnes.

The newly formed LafargeHolcim conglomerate with an capacity of around 68 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) in India is No.1, closely followed by Kumar Mangalam Birla's UltraTech Cement, with a installed cement capacity of 65 mtpa. The Aditya Birla Group has a number of cement projects on stream and is likely to touch a capacity of 71 mtpa by 2016.

Some of the major cement M&A deals over the recent past:

2005: Holcim acquires stake in ACC. Later acquires stake in Ambuja Cement in 2006.

2006: Heidelberg Cement's joint venture in Indorama Cement subsequent accqusition of majority stake in Mysore Cement.

2008: Heidelberg Cement acquires remaining stake in Indorama Cement and merges with Mysore Cement creating Heidelberg Cement India. Installed cement capacity of the company increases to 3 mtpa.

2011: Jaypee Group purchases controlling stake in GP Goenka Group's Andhra Cements.

2013: UltraTech Cement bought the 4.8 MPTA Gujarat unit of Jaiprakash Associates for a value of Rs.3,800 crore in its biggest acquisition in recent times.

2014: Ambuja Cements acquires 24 percent stake in Holcim India, then followed by a merger of Holcim India into Ambuja Cements. The net result was Ambuja Cements holding 50 percent stake in ACC, which is in turn a 50 percent subsidiary of Holcim India.

2014: Ultratech Cement acquires two cement plants from Jaiprakash Associates in Bela, Madhya Pradesh.

2015: Dalmia Cement increased its stake-holding in OCL India from 48 % to 74.6 % through an inter-share transfer.

2015: Lafarge-Holcim merger deal estimated at $40 billion to create the world's largest cement group.

2015: Shree Cement completes acquisition of a cement-grinding unit of Jaiprakash Associates at Panipat, Haryan.

Cement Industry sources state that global consolidation in the cement sector is not only taking place globally but also in India as seen by a number of recent deals, as well as plans by a number of cement companies to get themselves at the top 10. 20 MTPA seems to be the benchmark that cement companies are setting up in order to get there.

The Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Group is setting up 10 grinding units in the country to triple its cement and clinker capacities to 20 mtpa in the next three years.

Reliance Cement is looking almost three-fold increase in capacity to 15 million tonnes in the next three years with new plants being planned in Maharashtra and MP.

Cement Industry experts say that the demand growth between 6.5% and 8% would outpace supply addition at 6.7% in FY16 as cement capacity utilization is likely to improve to 73% to 75% in FY16 compared to 71% in FY14.