India: Domestic institutions, which together hold 9% in Ambuja Cements and have voted against the Ambuja-Holcim merger deal, have left the whole transaction on a knife-edge as Holcim is now banking on foreign funds to rescue it.

For the US$2.32bn deal to go through, Holcim needs approval from the majority of Ambuja Cements' minority shareholders.

This is the first merger and acquisition transaction to go under the hammer of minority shareholders after India's capital market regulator, Sebi, empowered them to approve or reject transactions in February 2013.

The voting process, which ran for three weeks, closed on 19 November 2013 and early indications suggest that most of the Indian minority shareholders have voted against the deal.

LIC, the biggest Indian institutional investor in Ambuja Cements, GIC and other public sector insurance companies have voted against the deal that would enable Ambuja Cements to emerge as Holcim's flagship firm in India.

The exact response of foreign institutions such as Aberdeen, JP Morgan and Oppenheimer, who together own about 30% stake in Ambuja Cements could not be ascertained.

Ambuja Cements declined to comment on the voting results, which will be officially released on 21 November 2013.