Displaying items by tag: Madhya Pradesh

India: The Ministry of Coal has cancelled Jaypee Cement’s coal block at Mandla in Madhya Pradesh citing breach of agreement. In a letter the ministry said that the cement producer was ‘not serious about the development of the coal mine,’ according to the Business Standard newspaper. The ministry has accused Jaypee Cement of switching the plant using coal from the mine without permission and of exceeding the agreed output.

The Mandla coal mine was allocated to Jaypee Cement in March 2015 after a bidding process. At first it supplied Jaypee’s Balaji cement plant in Andhra Pradesh. However, production from the mine switched to the Shahabad cement plant in June 2017 following the acquisition of the Balaji plant by UltraTech Cement.

India: JK Cement plans to invest up US$234m over the next 3- 4 years on an expansion project to increase its cement production capacity by over 30% to 14Mt/yr. Rajnish Kapur, the head of the company’s cement business, told the Press Trust of India that the cement producer is considering expanding existing plants and building new ones due to anticipated government infrastructure spending and a good monsoon. He said that it is in the process of evaluating expansion opportunities at its Mangrol plant in Rajasthan. It is also looking to build a new plant in Panna, Madhya Pradesh. It intends to finance the expansion through a mixture of internal funds and via loans.

India: UltraTech Cement plans to build a 3.5Mt/yr cement plant with an investment of US$400m at Dhar in Madhya Pradesh. Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla informed the producer’s annual general meeting that the project is scheduled to start commercial production in the fourth quarter of its 2019 financial year, according to the Press Trust of India. The company also intends to spend a further US$404m towards capacity de-bottlenecking projects, regulatory requirements, plant infrastructure and routine maintenance at its plants.

The cement producer has reported its financial results for the first quarter of its financial year that ended on 30 June 2017. Its net sales rose by 6% year-on-year to US$1.08bn from US$1.02bn in the same period in 2016. Its profit after tax rose by 15% to US$139m from US$121m. The results included those of the cement plants of Jaiprakash Associates and Jaypee Cement Corporation that UltraTech acquired in late June 2017. The cement producer reported that its costs had risen during the quarter due to rising energy and logistic costs due to ballooning fuel prices.

Congratulations are due to India’s UltraTech Cement this week for finally completing its US$2.5bn asset purchase from Jaiprakash Associates. The deal has been around in some form or another since at least 2014 when UltraTech arranged to buy two cement plants in Madhya Pradesh for around US$750m. That deal, publicly at least, became a victim of the 2015 amendment to India’s Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (MMDR) Act. The Bombay High Court eventually rejected it in early 2016 after a period of delays. However, the deal bounced back in a much larger form around the same time and since then everything has gone relatively smoothly.

As chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla put it in his letter to shareholders in the company’s 2016 – 2017 annual report the, “move is essentially for geographic market expansion.” He then went on to mention all the usual keywords like ‘synergy’ and ‘economies of scale’ that you expect from an acquisition. Quite rightly he finished with, “It is with great pride that I record, that UltraTech is the largest cement player in India and the fifth largest on the world stage.” On that last point he meant outside of China but UltraTech does have a small number of assets outside of India, notably in the UAE, Bahrain, Oman and Bangladesh, hinting at an international future for the cement producer.

Map 1: UltraTech Cement’s plants in India. Source: UltraTech Cement Corporate Dossier, January 2017.

To give a scale of the deal, UltraTech has increased its number of integrated cement plants in India to 18 from 12 and its cement grinding plants to 21 from 16. Its overall cement production capacity will increase by nearly 40% to 91.4Mt/yr from 66.3Mt/yr. The new assets are in Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. The main regions that will benefit are the North, Central and South zones. In particular the Central Zone will see its capacity jump to 21.1Mt/yr from 6.2Mt/yr. This area also includes a new 3.5Mt/yr plant at Dhar in Madhya Pradesh that is scheduled for commercial production in late 2019.

The completion of the Jaiprakash Associates deal was followed by the introduction at the start of July 2017 of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), a rationalisation of some of the country’s central and state taxes. UltraTech promptly said it had reduced its product prices by 2 – 3% in light of tax reductions under the new regime. Some producers were warning of a rise in cement prices in the run-up to the introduction of the GST and the Cement Manufactures’ Association said that the new tax rate was insufficient. However, UltraTech said that the new tax rate of 28% was better than 30 – 31% previously. Other Indian producers also reduced their prices this week following the introduction of the GST.

UltraTech’s expansion and the start of the new tax scheme auger well for the Indian cement industry in 2017. Demonetisation knocked cement production at the start of the year and it may have lowered UltraTech’s capacity utilisation rate as well as reducing domestic sales by cutting housing demand. However, sector rationalisation and a simpler tax approach should help to remedy this. Not all government interaction has been helpful to the cement industry in recent years as the MMDR amendment and demonetisation show but the signs are promising.
Roll on the next set of financial reports.

India: UltraTech Cement has completed its US$2.5bn acquisition of six integrated cement plants and five grinding plants from Jaiprakash Associates. The transfer was made effective at a meeting of the Scheme Implementation Committee of the board of directors of UltraTech Cement. The purchase includes plants in Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh with a total production capacity of 21.2Mt/yr.

“This move is essentially for geographic market expansion, enabling UltraTech’s entry into the high growth markets of India where it needed greater reinforcement,” said Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of UltraTech. He added that the acquisition would add synergies in manufacturing, distribution and logistics.

Following the purchase UltraTech holds 18 integrated plants, one standalone clinker production plant, 25 grinding plants and seven bulk terminals, increasing its Ordinary Portland Cement capacity to 93Mt/yr. UltraTech said that the new production units will make it the fourth largest cement producer in the world outside of China and that it confirms its place as the largest producer in India.

India: Orient Cement has signed a deal with Jaiprakash Associates to buy three cement plants from it for US$302m. The arrangement, which was originally announced in October 2016, includes a deal to buy a 74% stake in Bhilai Jaypee Cement for US$225m and the acquisition of the Nigrie cement grinding plant in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh from Jaiprakash Power Ventures for US$77m, according to the Hindu newspaper. Bhilai Jaypee Cement, a joint venture between Jaiprakash Associates and the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), has a 2.2Mt/yr integrated Portland slag cement plant in Satna Madhya, Madhya Pradesh and a grinding plant in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh.

The transaction will be funded by Orient Cement through a mix of internal accruals, debt and equity funding. The acquisitions will increase Orient Cement’s production capacity to 10.2Mt/yr from 8Mt/yr and it will grant it access to the central and eastern regions of the country.

India: Prism Cement has received a letter of intent from the state government of Madhya Pradesh to grant it a lease to mine cement grade limestone at Chulhi and Majhiyar, Satna district for 50 years. The lease covers reserves of about 23.6Mt and it applies to the cement producer’s plants in the state.

India: UltaTech Cement’s net profit has risen by 20% year-on-year to US$292m for the first nine months of its financial year to the 31 March 2017 from US$244m in the same period in the pervious year. Its total income from operations rose slightly to US$3.04bn. However, net sales fell slightly in the third quarter.

The cement producer reported that its board of directors had approved the setting up of a 3.5Mt/yr cement plant at Dhar, Madhya Pradesh for a cost of around US$382m. Commercial production at the plant is anticipated to start in early 2019. The plant is intended to grow the company’s markets in southwest Madhya Pradesh.

UltaTech Cement added that it had deposited a penalty of US$17.3m, 10% of a fine imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in August 2016. It is also facing a separate fine for U$10m from the CCI in relation to alleged misconduct in Haryana. The company intends to appeal both fines.

India: Dalmia Bharat's income has risen by 14% year-on-year to US$577m in the first half of its financial year, which ended on 30 September 2016, from US$505m in the same period of the previous financial year. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 28% to US$135m from US$105m. Its sales volumes rose by 21% to 7.18Mt from 5.95Mt. The cement producer explained that it had focused on building up existing capacity and entering new markets in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh during the period.

India: The shareholders of Jaiprakash Associates approved the sale of the group’s cement business to UltraTech Cement. According to the deal, arranged earlier in 2016, UltraTech Cement will buy Jaiprakash Associates' cement plants in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Andhra Pradesh, which have a total production capacity of 21.1Mt/yr, at an enterprise value of US$2.4bn. In addition, it will acquire a 4Mt/yr grinding plant being built in Uttar Pradesh.

Approval has been obtained from the Competition Commission of India, according to the Press Trust of India. The next step involves seeking approval from the concerned High Court and the final approval from capital markets regulator.