By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE) – World’s building materials and cement producers, LafargeHolcim on Monday announced that it has received a revised order of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for the divestment of its interest in Lafarge India, including three (3) cement plants and two (2) grinding stations with a total capacity of around 11 million tons per annum, it said in an emailed statement.
“The company also markets aggregates and is one of India’s leading ready-mix concrete manufacturers. The proposed transaction is an alternate remedy for the merger of the Group’s legacy companies and now forms part of the company’s CHF 3.5 billion divestment target in 2016,” LafargeHolcim said.
“We will operate in India through our subsidiaries ACC Ltd. and Ambuja Cements Ltd. with a combined cement capacity of around 63 million tonnes and a distribution network that extends across the entire country. We see opportunities to further build our business in India through our network of over 100,000 dealers and retailers, and by meeting the infrastructure needs of a country that is experiencing significant urbanization,” said Eric Olsen, CEO LafargeHolcim.
According to the building material manufacturer, the conditional clearance by the CCI for an earlier divestment proposal was received in April 2015; including the divestment of Jojobera and Sonadih plants in Eastern India with a cement capacity of 5.1 million tonnes. LafargeHolcim subsequently entered into a letter agreement with Birla Corporation Limited, subject to CCI approval, in August 2015.
“However, due to the current regulatory issues relating to the transfer of mining rights captive and critical to the two plants, LafargeHolcim was obliged to submit an alternate remedy to the CCI to ensure compliance with the order.
As a result, LafargeHolcim will now launch a new divestment process for Lafarge India,” the cement maker added.
