Displaying items by tag: Finance

India: Grasim Industries has secured board approval for an issuance to raise up to US$480m. Local press has reported that the producer will use the proceeds for planned capital expenditure investments, including in the paints sector, as well as to repay existing borrowings and for ‘general corporate’ purposes.

India: Adani Group has entered into a US$3.7bn refinance agreement with multiple banks to refinance the loan it took to acquire Holcim’s Indian business. Live Mint News has reported that the consortium of banks includes Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered, Barclays, Citibank, MUFG Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. Sources ‘with direct knowledge of the matter’ reported that the refinance agreement will have a tenure of 36 months.

Egypt: Misr Beni Suef Cement has secured board approval for a reduction in its issued capital. Arab Finance News has reported that the company plans to reduce its capital by 10% to US$19.8m.

Mexico: Cemex says that it has entered negotiations with banks with a view to refinancing its US$3bn credit line. Bloomberg has reported that it previously financed the line in late 2021.

Cemex’s chief financial officer Maher Al-Haffar said that an anticipated 100% extension ‘will probably transform our maturity structure quite nicely.’

India: UltraTech Cement has bought a 29.8 hectare parcel of land in Andhra Pradesh’s Vizianagaram District from The India Cements. The Times of India newspaper has reported the value of the sale as US$8.44m. The India Cements’ vice chair and managing director Narayanaswami Srinivasan said that the company is looking for ways to monetise its assets amid on-going liquidity issues.

The India Cements’ sales of cement and clinker fell by 4.3% quarter-on-quarter to 2.66Mt in the three months to 30 June 2023 from 2.78Mt in the three months to 31 April 2023. It noted high fossil fuel prices and local overcapacity in the South Indian cement sector.

India: Shree Cement is reportedly planning to raise US$84.4m through the sale of bonds. Reuters has reported that the bonds will mature in five years from their date of issue.

Norway: The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has signed a new agreement with Heidelberg Materials Sement Norge, confirming funding of up to US$14.1m for the producer’s construction of a full-scale carbon capture system at its Brevik cement plant. Under the agreement, Heidelberg Materials Sement Norge will absorb extra costs that have arisen, and retain a larger share of any return on the project. Costs rose due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and international supply chain pressures.

Nordic Daily News has reported that Heidelberg Materials Northern Europe director Giv Brantenberg said "We are in the process of completing the world's first full-scale plant for carbon capture in the cement industry, and have had great support from the Norwegian authorities throughout the project's many phases. Today's agreement reflects the good cooperation with the Norwegian government, and we look forward to completing this unique facility.”

Europe: The EU has awarded a Euro49.9m grant under its Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Facility (AFIF) to Taiwan Cement subsidiary Atlante. The cement group said that Atlante will use the funds to building a fast and ultra-fast electric vehicle charging network in Europe.

India: JSW Cement may be planning to launch an initial public offering (IPO) to raise up to US$484m, according to Reuters.

JSW Cement managing director Parth Jindal reportedly said “In 2024, we are planning to take this company public, for which we will be filing the draft red herring prospectus in the next six months. We will be timing the market listing after the national elections.” Parliamentary and state legislative assembly elections are due to take place in September, November and December 2023.

India: The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) has obtained documents which allegedly show how two people with close ties to the owners of Adani Group invested significantly in the group. Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli and Chang Chung-Ling traded in Adani Group shares through a Mauritius-based investment fund. The OCCRP reports that Ahli and Chang might be found to have been acting on behalf of Adani promoters. If so, their shareholding would bring insider investment in Adani Group to over 75%. This would potentially indicate stock manipulation under Indian law. Ahli and Changs’ investment management company reportedly paid a company owned by Vinod Adani, the brother of Adani Group chair Gautam Adani, for investment advice.

Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli is a Dubai-based business consultant, who is listed as an officer in a British Virgin Islands-based securities investment firm linked to Adani Group. Meanwhile, China-based Chang Chung-Ling has held positions on the boards of multiple Adani Group companies.

Adani Group replied “Contrary to your claim of new evidence/proofs, these are nothing but a rehash of unsubstantiated allegations levelled in the Hindenburg report. Our response to the Hindenburg report is available on our website. Suffice it to state that there is neither any truth to nor any basis for making any of the said allegations against the Adani Group and its promoters, and we expressly reject all of them."