India: Ultratech Cement has announced that it has earmarked US$1.14bn of capital expenditure (capex) towards expansion projects over the next three years.
"Our capex for the 2015 fiscal year is expected to be US$618m, for the 2016 fiscal year we will spend US$497m and for the 2017 fiscal year we will spend US$33.3m," said UltraTech Cement's Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla at the company's recent Annual General Meeting. The producer currently claims a total cement capacity of 62Mt/yr. "By early 2016, we expect this to scale up to 70Mt/yr when all ongoing projects will be fully commissioned. A judicious mix of internal accruals and borrowings have been used for funding the projects," Birla said.
Speaking about recent acquisitions, Birla said, "The acquisition of the 4.8Mt/yr Gujarat Cement Units from Jaypee Cement Corporation at a cost of US$620m represents a milestone in UltraTech's growth strategy, strengthening its foothold in the growing western market and bolstering its coastal footprint."