Displaying items by tag: Jaiprakash Associates

India: Shree Cement has received the approval to acquire a 1.5Mt/yr cement grinding unit in Panipat, Haryana, which is currently owned by Jaiprakash Associates. The unit will reportedly be sold for US$59.6m.

The deal is subject to adjustments for any financial indebtedness and net working capital taken over as of the closing date and subject to satisfactory completion of due diligence and obtaining necessary approvals and consents.

India: UltraTech Cement Ltd is in talks to buy cement assets from Jaiprakash Associates Ltd. The two companies are in discussions about projects, including Jaiprakash's Rewa cement plant in central India, which has a 7Mt/yr cement production capacity.

Selling additional assets would help Jaiprakash to reduce its debt, which jumped more than four-fold in the five years through March 2014 to US$10.3bn. In 2013 UltraTech agreed to buy a Jaiprakash cement unit based in Gujarat State.

Jaiprakash is also looking for buyers for cement assets in Himachal Pradesh State, where it owns two plants with a combined production capacity of 3.5Mt/yr. Jaiprakash sold its 74% stake in Bokaro Jaypee Cement Ltd, a joint venture with the Steel Authority of India Ltd, to Dalmia Bharat Ltd for US$194m in March 2014.

After its recent divestments, Jaiprakash has a cement production capacity of 26.4Mt/yr, according to a company presentation in May 2014. The company plans to sell assets valued at about US$1.35bn by March 2015.

India: Jaiprakash Associates' profit after tax fell by 18.7% year-on-year to US$17.1m in the quarter that ended in March 2014 on account of higher interest costs and lower revenues.

Net sales declined by 11.9% to US$578m during the January - March 2014 quarter, down from US$657m in the same quarter of 2013. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 2.3% year-on-year to US$148m. Interest costs for the quarter jumped by 38% year-on-year to US$128m, while cost overheads such as direct construction costs fell by 25% and other expenditures fell by 11%. Revenue from its cement division, which contributes 45% to the company's total revenue, increased by 0.5% year-on-year to US$280m. However, earnings before interest and cost margin plunged by 700 basis points to 6.7%.

India: Jaiprakash Associates plans to sell US$1.66bn worth of assets by 2015 to cut its debt, after divesting assets totalling US$2.46bn in the six months that ended on 31 March 2014.

Jaiprakash Associates plans to sell a thermal power plant, a cement plant, some of its real estate assets and a part of its stake in the Yamuna Expressway. It plans to exit its cement joint venture with Steel Authority of India Ltd in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh and is in talks with Aditya Birla Group's Ultratech Cement Ltd. Jaiprakash Associates holds a 74% stake in the 2.2Mt/yr capacity cement plant.

A Jaiprakash Associates executive said that the current financial year will see more asset sales, which will ease pressure from banks to repay borrowings. Since September 2013, Jaiprakash Associates has sold assets valued at US$2.46bn, meeting its debt-reduction target for the fiscal year that ended on 31 March 31 2014.

India: UltraTech Cement Ltd is in talks to buy Jaypee's cement assets in Solan, Himachal Pradesh, for US$644m, according to anonymous sources. This comes shortly after UltraTech's purchase of Jaypee's Gujarat cement plant.

For Jaypee, subsidiary of Jaiprakash Associates Ltd, the deal will be another effort towards trimming its US$8.54bn debt (as of 31 March 2013). The company sold 1.21km2 of land in Greater Noida to realty firm Gaursons India Ltd for US$241m in May 2013. Jaypee is also close to finalising the sale of two of its three operating hydroelectric projects to a consortium led by Abu Dhabi National Energy Co PJSC for at least US$1.5bn.

UltraTech's cement manufacturing capacity increased to 59Mt/yr from 54Mt/yr after it bought Jaypee's Gujarat plant. The company aims to increase its capacity to 70Mt/yr by 2015, according to Kailash Birla, senior executive president and chief financial officer of UltraTech. The Solan assets, if acquired, will add another 4Mt/yr of capacity. The grinding and blending unit and the cement plant in consideration have capacities of 2Mt/yr each.

India: Jaiprakash Associates has asked the Himachal Pradesh government for permission to start land acquisition for its cement plant in the state, according to the Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri. He said that the company required 212 hectares, including 158 hectares of forest land, for the plant at Malokhar in Bilaspur district. "The company has now sought permission to start acquisition of 172 hectares," said Agnihotri.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the government and the company for the project was signed on 18 August 2010. The forest clearance for the project was given by the state on 10 October 2011.

India: Jaiprakash Associates plans to build a coal-fired 35MW captive power plant as a part of its proposed US$202m greenfield cement plant in Satna in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The captive power plant will comprise steam turbine generating sets with adequately-sized circulating fluidised-bed combustion (CFBC) boilers with air-cooled condensers.

The total coal requirement for the project is estimated at 0.55Mt/yr, according to an environment impact assessment report on the project. The 1.5Mt/yr clinker and 2Mt/yr cement plant proposed by Jaiprakash Associates will require 30MW of power that will all be sourced from the planned captive power plant.

India: Jaiprakash Associates has reported a more than 64% decline in standalone net profit at US$20.6m for its third quarter, which ended on 31 December 2012, as its interest burden increased by over 20%. For comparison, the Noida-based company had a net profit of US$57.4m in the third quarter of the 2011-2012 fiscal year.

Its net sales, however, were up by 15.3% to US$629.5m during the quarter compared to US$545.9m in the October-December period of the 2012 fiscal year. Revenues from the cement segment were up by nearly 7% to US$273.2m.

The company's total expenditure of US$521.8m amounted to nearly 83% of its net sales during the quarter. Its interest outgoings increased by 20.7% to US$98.7m. Its other income, mainly interest on deposits, also declined by nearly 36% to US$15.8m, impacting the company's financial results for the quarter.

India: Major Indian cement producer Jaiprakash Associates has informed the Supreme Court of India that it is unable to pay a US$18.8m fine imposed by the Himachal Pradesh High Court for setting up a captive thermal power plant without gaining the required environmental clearance.

The Jaypee group firm said that it is in 'great difficulty' and can't arrange funds to pay its second instalment of US$4.7m that is due on 31 March 2013. However, it said it had paid the first instalment of the same amount. A bench headed by chief justice Altamas Kabir agreed for an early hearing on 12 March 2013 even though the environment ministry and the state government opposed the plea, saying that there is no way for Jaiprakash Associates to avoid the US$18.8m fine.

On 4 May 2012 the High Court ordered the Jaiprakash Associates to dismantle its 60MW captive power plant within three months. It allowed the 1.75Mt/yr cement plant in Solan to stay. In November 2012 Jaiprakash Associates reported that its net profit for the six months to 30 September 2012 had dropped by nearly 40% to US$50.1m from US$81.3 in the same period in 2011.

India: Business conglomerate Aditya Birla Group has revived negotiations to purchase cement manufacturer Jaiprakash Associates' cement plants in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

Aditya Birla is reported to have made an offer of up to US$130/t to buy the cement assets of Jaiprakash Associates which have an overall capacity of 9.8Mt. This follows Irish building materials firm CRH decision to cancel talks with Jaiprakash Associates in early October 2012. In August 2012 CRH was reportedly close to buying a 51% equity stake in the Indian cement producer's plants in Gujarat. Top officials from Aditya Birla's cement business and executives from foreign lender Barclays Bank are in talks to finalise the pricing of the deal.