Displaying items by tag: JK Lakshmi Cement

India: JK Lakshmi Cement has partnered with SwitchLabs Automobiles to introduce electric vehicles (EVs) into its logistics network. The company says that this represents a strategic step towards cleaner transportation and more sustainable supply chain practices. According to a press release, the EVs will operate on the route between the JK Lakshmi Puram cement plant in Sirohi, Rajasthan, and the Kalol Grinding Unit in Kalol in the state of Gujarat, a distance of around 225km each way.

The initiative builds on the success of a previous pilot project, which demonstrated a substantial reduction in CO₂ emissions while maintaining operational efficiency. By integrating clean mobility into its logistics operations, JK Lakshmi Cement aims to reduce its environmental footprint and contribute to India’s broader transition to sustainable infrastructure.

India: JK Lakshmi Cement (JKLC) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Assam government at the Advantage Assam 2.0 Investment and Infrastructure Summit.

JKLC will invest US$1.2bn over the next seven to eight years to build a greenfield cement plant.

India: JK Lakshmi Cement’s net sales fell by 15% year-on-year to US$453m in the nine months to 31 December 2024 from US$534m in the same period in 2023. Its sales volumes of cement dropped by 9% to 6.44Mt from 7.06Mt. Its profit after tax decreased to US$25.6m from US$32.2m.

Consolidation in the Indian cement sector continued through December 2024. UltraTech Cement completed its acquisition of a larger stake in The India Cements late in the month. Then, this week, Nuvoco Vistas said that it was preparing to buy Vadraj Cement. Along similar lines, JK Lakshmi Cement also confirmed that it was moving ahead with the merger of its cement-related subsidiaries.

The UltraTech Cement deal was approved by its board of directors in July 2024 but it took until 24 December 2024 before it formally completed the purchase of an additional 33% stake in The India Cements. The deal was valued at around US$460m in mid-2024 by local press. UltraTech Cement now owns just under a 55% stake in the company and is its majority shareholder. Back in July 2024 UltraTech Cement said that The India Cements had a total production capacity of around 14.5Mt/yr of ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Just under 13Mt/yr of this is based in the south of the country, mostly in Tamil Nadu, and 1.5Mt/yr is in Rajasthan.

The Nuvoco Vistas announcement follows a bidding process to acquire Vadraj Cement through a corporate insolvency process. Key parts of the deal include taking control of Vadraj Cement’s 6Mt/yr grinding plant in Surat and its 3.5Mt/yr integrated plant in Kutch. Both plants are in Gujarat. The agreement also includes limestone mining rights in the state and a captive jetty near the Kutch plant. However, the expression of interest for the insolvency proceedings, published in March 2024, revealed that the company’s operations have been suspended for five years. The grinding plant and the jetty were described as ‘partially constructed.’ Nuvoco Vistas has not disclosed how much it had bid to pay for the company, although it was keener in its press release to state that the transaction would see it become the fifth largest cement producer in India. It says that its cement production capacity will rise to 31Mt/yr; 19Mt/yr of this in the east, 6Mt/yr in the north and 6Mt/yr in the west. Synergies are also hoped for when the new assets are combined with Nuvoco Vistas’ current plants at Nimbol and Chittorgarh in Rajasthan.

Compared to the previous two news stories, the JK Lakshmi Cement merger plan is on a smaller scale but it follows the same trend. The cement producer presented its corporate restructuring plan to its shareholders in July 2024. It wants to merge JK Lakshmi Cement, its main cement company, with Udaipur Cement, Hidrive and Hansdeep. JK Lakshmi Cement runs two integrated cement plants at Sirohi, Rajasthan, and Durg, Chattisgarh respectively. It also operates what it calls ‘split location grinding’ plants at Kalol and Surat in Gujarat, at Jhamri in Haryana and at Cuttack in Odisha. Udaipur Cement operates one integrated plant in Rajasthan, Hidrive owns land next to the group’s Surat unit and Hansdeep is a preferred bidder for limestone resources in Nagaur, Rajasthan. The group’s clinker and cement production capacities are 10Mt/yr and 16.4Mt/yr. Its rationale is to gain synergies from production, distribution and logistics, to simplify the corporate structure, to improve efficiency and to raise shareholder value. That last one might be particularly useful for a cement producer looking to expand or sell in the future.

Further mergers and acquisitions are expected to happen in 2025 but at a slower rate than in 2024. Part of the dynamic so far has been that the highest demand is in the east and the highest capacity is in the south. Many of the deals announced in 2024 focused on markets in the south of the country. By contrast, analysts quoted in the Economic Times at the start of 2025 anticipate that new transactions might start to move to other regions. Obvious potential targets include Jaiprakash Associates and Heidelberg Materials. The first company became insolvent in 2024 and is likely to be sold off. Rumours of a potential purchase of the second company by Adani Group in the autumn hit the local press in October 2024. Doubtless there are other less visible possibilities too if the price is right. Read Global Cement Weekly in 2025 to find out what happens.

India: JK Lakshmi Cement will merge three of its subsidiaries, Udaipur Cement Works, Hansdeep Industries and Trading, and Hidrive Developers and Industries, into its operations. Under the scheme of amalgamation, Udaipur Cement Works’ shareholders will receive four JK Lakshmi Cement shares for every 100 shares held. The merger will ‘simplify the group structure’, making ‘one combined entity focused in the business of cement and cement products’, according to The Business Standard.

India: JK Lakshmi Cement board has approved a corporate restructuring to merge three subsidiaries: Udaipur Cement Works, Hansdeep Industries and Trading, and Hidrive Developers and Industries. The merger is due for completion on 1 April 2025.

India: Vinita Singhania has been appointed as the chair of JK Lakshmi Cement. She will succeed Bharat Hari Singhania when he resigns from the post in April 2024. Bharat Hari Singhania has been appointed as the company’s chair emeritus and strategic advisor.

Vinita Singhania has been on the board of directors of JK Lakshmi Cement since 1989 and became its managing director in 2021. She became the first female president of the Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) and also led the National Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCBM). She is also a board member for JK Paper, Bengal & Assam Company, Udaipur Cement Works, HEG and other companies.

Bharat Hari Singhania holds over 65 years experience in the cement, automotive tyres, paper and synthetics sectors. He became the managing director of JK Lakshmi Cement in 1994 and then its chair in 2013. He stepped down as the company’s managing director in 2021. He is also a former president of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and chair of Indian Jute Mills Association and Indian Jute Industries Research Association, Kolkata.

India: JK Lakshmi Cement has acquired an 85% stake in Agrani Cement. The value of the deal is US$39.2m. Agrani Cement was established in Kolkata, West Bengal in 2022.

India: JK Lakshmi Cement has obtained environmental clearance to mine up to 2.5Mt/yr of limestone from it Kachchh mine in Gujarat. The producer says that it plans to invest US$24m in expanding its operations at the site.

India: JK Lakshmi Cement recorded sales of US$189m during the second quarter of the 2024 financial year (FY2024), up by 15% year-on-year. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 33% to US$26.1m, while its profit grew by 43% to US$5.4m.