Jan 9 (Reuters) – India’s Aditya Birla Group is
evaluating a possible buyout of the South Africa operations of
France’s Lafarge SA, the world’s largest cement
company, the Business Standard newspaper reported on Monday,
citing unnamed sources.
The $35 billion telecoms-to-cement conglomerate, whose
Ultratech Ltd is India’s biggest cement producer, is
conducting initial assessment for a possible bid for the Lafarge
unit, the report said.
The enterprise value, which comprises both equity and debt,
of Lafarge’s South African arm, may be close to $800-900
million, the report said, quoting the sources.
Lafarge South Africa Holding has an annual cement capacity
of over three million tonnes and operates 20 quarries and 55
ready-mix concrete plants. Lafarge is seeking 700-800 million
euros ($0.89-$1.00 billion) for the unit, a report said last
month.
A spokeswoman for the Aditya Birla Group, which also owns
Hindalco Industries, India’s top aluminium producer,
and telecoms provider Idea Cellular, declined to
comment on the report.
The group, one of the world’s ten biggest cement producers,
operates across 36 countries and has recently considered bids
for overseas coal assets.
Lafarge was not reachable for comment by Reuters.
Another Indian company Shree Cement is also
believed to have shown interest in the asset, the report said.
“We have initially shown some interest in the project but we
would not like to comment on the present status,” an unnamed
senior group official was reported as saying by the newspaper.
($1 = 0.7865 euros)
(Reporting by Henry Foy in MUMBAI; Editing by Subhadip Sircar)
