India: Ajay Piramal, the Indian businessman and chairman of Piramal, has started talks with Lafarge India to buy its assets, according to sources quoted by the Economic Times. Speculation has followed Piramal since he sold his pharmaceuticals business for US$3.8bn in 2010. If completed, the move would mark a diversification from Piramal’s healthcare, financial services and information management businesses.
Piramal and Lafarge India separately declined to comment on the issue. Lafarge India is selling all of its assets in India including a cement production capacity of 11Mt/yr.