NEW DELHI: The acquisition of India Cements by UltraTech Cement has come under the lens of the Competition Commission of India (CCI). UltraTech Cement in an exchange filing has informed that the Company has received a communication from the CCI under Section 29 (1) of the Competition Act, 2002 regarding the proposed acquisition of India Cements.
“The company will be responding to the same. The Southern market for grey cement, where India Cement operates, is highly competitive and fragmented with presence of over 35 grey cement manufacturers. We are confident of merits of our case,” UltraTech Cement said in the exchange filing. The nature of the issue raised by the regulator is not known yet. The India’s largest cement maker in July announced acquisition of a 32.72% stake in Chennai-based India Cements from promoters & their associates. The Aditya Birla Group company would pay Rs 3,954 crore at Rs 390 share for buying 28.42% stake of promoters --Srinivasan N, Chitra Srinivasan, Rupa Gurunath and S K Asokh Baalaje and 4.30% share from Sri Saradha Logistics.
The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals. In its submission to CCI, UltraTech said “there exist some insignificant and minuscule vertical relationships between UltraTech and India Cements on a nonexclusive and arm’s length basis, in the ordinary course of business.”