The Adani Group company Adani Enterprises forayed into the media business by acquiring an unspecified minority stake in Quintillion Business Media earlier this year…reports Asian Lite News
Adani Group’s unit AMG Media Networks will buy a 49 per cent stake in Raghav Bahl-run digital business news platform Quintillion Business Media for an undisclosed sum, a regulatory filing to the exchanges said.
The Adani Group company Adani Enterprises forayed into the media business by acquiring an unspecified minority stake in Quintillion Business Media earlier this year.
It has signed a Shareholders’ Agreement with Quintillion Media Ltd (QML) and QBML and a share purchase agreement with QML, QBML and Quint Digital Media Ltd (QDML) in connection with its proposed acquisition of a 49 per cent stake in the media company.
The transaction is reportedly subject to customary closing conditions and requisite approvals from relevant authorities.
On Monday, shares of the Quint Digital Media rose sharply, rallying over 9 per cent at 12.13 p.m. The current share price is at Rs 325.
Meanwhile, the shares of cement makers Ambuja Cements and ACC rose on Monday after Adani Group announced that it would buy Switzerland-based Holcim Ltd’s entire stake in the leading Indian cement companies.
The share of the cement makers closed Monday’s trade 2.3 per cent and 3.8 per cent higher, respectively, from their previous close.
On Sunday, Adani Group, through an offshore special purpose vehicle, announced that it had entered into definitive agreements for the acquisition of Switzerland-based Holcim’s stake in the two companies.
Holcim, through its subsidiaries, holds 63.19 per cent in Ambuja Cements and 54.53 per cent in ACC (of which 50.05 per cent is held through Ambuja Cements).
The value for the Holcim stake and open offer consideration for Ambuja Cements and ACC is $10.5 billion, which makes this the largest ever acquisition by Adani, and India’s largest ever merger and acquisition (M&A) transaction in the infrastructure and materials space.
“Our move into the cement business is yet another validation of our belief in our nation’s growth story,” said Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani post the announcement of the stake purchase.
“Not only is India expected to remain one of the world’s largest demand-driven economies for several decades, India also continues to be the world’s second largest cement market and yet has less than half of the global average per capita cement consumption. In statistical comparison, China’s cement consumption is over 7x that of India’s. When these factors are combined with the several adjacencies of our existing businesses that include the Adani Group’s ports and logistics business, energy business, and real estate business, we believe that we will be able to build a uniquely integrated and differentiated business model and set ourselves up for significant capacity expansion.”
Adani added: “Holcim’s global leadership in cement production and sustainability best practices brings to us some of the cutting-edge technologies that will allow us to accelerate the path to greener cement production. In addition, Ambuja Cements and ACC are two of the strongest brands recognised across India. When augmented with our renewable power generation footprint, we gain a big headstart in the decarbonisation journey that is a must for cement production. This combination of all our capabilities makes me confident that we will be able to establish the cleanest and most sustainable cement manufacturing processes that will meet or exceed global benchmarks.”
With India’s cement consumption at just 242 kg per capita, as compared to the global average of 525 kg per capita, there is significant potential for the growth of the cement sector in India.
The tailwinds of rapid urbanisation, the growing middle class and affordable housing together with the post-pandemic recovery in construction and other infrastructure sectors are expected to continue driving the growth of the cement sector over the next several decades.
Ambuja Cements and ACC currently have a combined installed production capacity of 70 MTPA. The two companies are among the strongest brands in India with immense depth of manufacturing and supply chain infrastructure, represented by their 23 cement plants, 14 grinding stations, 80 ready-mix concrete plants and over 50,000 channel partners across India.
Both Ambuja and ACC will benefit from synergies with the integrated Adani infrastructure platform, especially in the areas of raw material, renewable power and logistics, where
Adani Portfolio companies have vast experience and deep expertise. This will enable higher margins and return on capital employed for the two companies. The companies will also benefit from Adani’s focus on ESG, Circular Economy and Capital Management Philosophy.
The businesses will continue to be deeply aligned to UN Sustainability Development Goals with clear focus on SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and SDG 13 (Climate Action).
The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and conditions.