Displaying items by tag: Adani Group

India: Adani Group has reportedly entered discussions with five banks in a search to refinance US$3.8bn-worth of loans taken for its acquisition of Holcim India. The Economic Times newspaper has reported that the group aims to secure funding by mid-July 2023. Potential participants in the refinancing round reportedly include Malaysia and Taiwan-based banks, as well as existing lenders Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered.

India: Adani Group has taken a total US$2.33bn-worth of new loans over the two-and-a-half month period since the publication of a report into the group's activities by US-based shortseller Hindenburg Research on 24 January 2023. The report concluded with a finding of 'numerous issues of suspected fraud' by Adani Group. Adani Group explained at the time that all findings were 'stale, baseless and discredited.' The Times of India newspaper has reported that the group's net debt rose by 17% year-on-year to US$22.6bn on 8 June 2023. Adani Group's energy sector subsidiaries raised US$2.01bn-worth (86%) of the debt.

Adani Group completely paid off loans used in its US$6.4bn acquisition of Holcim India on 6 June 2023.

India: Adani Cement has withdrawn its membership of the Indian cement industry association, the Cement Manufacturers’ Association (CMA). Adani Cement is India’s second biggest cement producer. The Economic Times newspaper has reported that ACC and Ambuja Cements, which Adani Cement acquired in September 2022, have not shared their production and sales data with the CMA for ‘a few years.’

India: Adani Group repaid loans worth a total of US$2.65bn on 6 June 2023, with a total interest payment of US$700m. Accord Fintech News has reported that the sum includes prepayment of loans worth US$700m used to acquire Holcim India, alongside other loans. This completes the group's prepayment of loans taken for the acquisition, which it completed in September 2022.

India: Adani Group plans to grow ACC and Ambuja Cements' capacity to 140Mt/yr by 2028 under a joint expansion strategy. The Hindu newspaper has reported that new strategy includes capital expenditure with a value of US$5.58bn and new acquisitions. Investments will reportedly be split equally between the two subsidiaries. After completion of the current growth plan, the cement producers will 'pause for a while' prior to any subsequent expansion phase.

Adani Group said that it is proceeding with an operational merger of ACC and Ambuja Cements, without merging their distinct brands. The priority of the merger will be to increase efficiency in supply chains and logistics operations.

India: Adani Cement subsidiaries ACC and Ambuja Cements have launched the Cement and Concrete Research and Development Facility at Kalamboli in Maharashtra. Dion News Service has reported that the focus of the centre will lie in product development, productivity enhancement and increasing the efficiency of cement and concrete production.

Adani Cement CEO Ajay Kapur said "Our new research and development facility is our reinforcement towards our collective commitment to pushing boundaries, driving innovation, and addressing industry challenges."

India: Indian industrial companies plan to increase their capital expenditure (CAPEX) investments by 14% year-on-year in the current, 2024, financial year, the Financial Express newspaper has reported. UltraTech Cement says that it will more than double its CAPEX investments to US$1.55bn during the year (1 April 2023 - 31 March 2024). Adani Green Energy, the renewable electricity subsidiary of Ambuja Cements' parent company Adani Group, has the highest planned investments of any Indian industrial company. It also plans to more than double its CAPEX spending, to US$1.69bn in the 2024 financial year.

India: Ambuja Cements has placed orders with equipment suppliers for an 8Mt/yr clinker capacity expansion across two of its cement plants. The plants in question are the 2.9Mt/yr Bhatapara cement plant in Chhattisgarh and the 4.5Mt/yr Maratha cement plant in Maharashtra. Ambuja Cements will also build 42MW-worth of waste heat recovery (WHR) power capacity. The new cement capacity will be able to operate on renewable energy and use 50% alternative fuel (AF). As such, upon completion of the project, the plants will together produce 14Mt/yr of Ambuja Cements' reduced-CO₂ Blended Green Cement. The producer will fund the work through internal accruals, and expects to complete it in May 2025.

CEO Ajay Kapur said "These brownfield expansion projects are part of our strategy to double our production capacity over the next five years from the current capacity of 67.5Mt/yr. Our ongoing investments in capacity expansion and sustainability will enable us to achieve our long-term objectives, as we remain committed to delivering sustainable growth and value to our stakeholders."

India: Ambuja Cement’s sales rose by 8.4% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023, to US$520m, from US$483m in the first quarter of 2022. The company’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) declined marginally to US$96.4m. Costs rose by 12% to US$453m from US$404m.

During the quarter under review, Ambuja Cement made a milestone payment on an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract under its planned capacity expansion strategy. It subsequently foreclosed the contract, recovering its US$222m advance, ‘in cognisance’ of on-going investigations into its parent company Adani Group.

Ambuja Cement’s chief executive officer Ajay Kapur said "We are pleased to report another strong performance of Ambuja Cement, which has been driven by our strategic initiatives on business excellence, operational efficiencies and synergies. Our focus on operational excellence and cost optimisation measures has yielded improved profitability. We have been able to maintain our growth trajectory and further strengthen our position in the market. With the rise in construction activities across our markets, we see the continuation of the elevated demand and strong volumes in the coming quarters as well.”

India: Adani Group has reportedly prepaid US$200m-worth of a US$1bn mezzanine loan for its acquisition of Holcim's Indian business in mid-2022. The loan will be due for repayment in September 2024. Bloomberg has reported that the conglomerate hopes that the part prepayment will help it to secure a three-year extension to repayment.