Orient Cement, a firm owned by the Chandra Kant Birla group, has agreed to acquire 74 per cent stake in Bhilai Jaypee Cement and Nigrie cement grinding unit in Madhya Pradesh from Jaypee group companies at an enterprise valuation of Rs 1,950 crore, reports the Business Standard.
While the transactions would help beleaguered Jaypee group in reducing its Rs 67,500 crore of consolidated debt as on March this year, it would increase Orient Cement’s presence in central and eastern India.
"The demerger of Orient Cement from Orient Paper and Industries was envisioned to create a pure-play cement company which could grow fast. After establishing Orient Cement as one of the most operationally efficient companies, we commissioned our greenfield plant at Gulbarga, Karnataka last year, increasing our capacity by 60 per cent to 8 MTPA," CK Birla, Chairman of the CK Birla Group, said after Orient Cement’s board meeting that cleared the transaction.