Societe Generale Divests Stake in India Cements Amid Major UltraTech Acquisition

Societe Generale sold a 0.67% stake in India Cements for Rs 78 crore. UltraTech Cement has announced acquiring a 32.72% stake in India Cements, taking its total holding to 55.49%. UltraTech has launched an open offer to acquire an additional 26% stake. India Cements will remain a listed entity.

Societe Generale, a financial services company, on Monday divested a 0.67 per cent stake in cement manufacturer India Cements for Rs 78 crore through an open market transaction.

According to the bulk deal data available with the National Stock Exchange (NSE), Paris-based Societe Generale offloaded 20.61 lakh shares, amounting to a 0.67 per cent stake in India Cements. The shares were disposed of at an average price of Rs 378.15 apiece, taking the deal value to Rs 77.95 crore.

At the end of June quarter, Societe Generale owned a 1.62 per cent stake in India Cements, as per the shareholding data on the BSE. Details of the buyers of India Cements' shares could not be ascertained. Shares of India Cements gained 0.07 per cent to close at Rs 374.30 per piece on the NSE.

On Sunday, Aditya Birla Group flagship company UltraTech Cement announced the acquisition of a 32.72 per cent stake in India Cements from promoters and their associates for Rs 3,954 crore to expand its footprint in the highly competitive and fast-growing Southern cement market, particularly Tamil Nadu. The proposed shareholding of UltraTech after the acquisition of a 32.72 per cent stake in India Cements from promoters and their associates will be 55.49 per cent. UltraTech Cement also launched an open offer to acquire 8.05 crore shares of ICL, which is 26 per cent of the shareholding of the Chennai-based cement manufacturer, at a price of Rs 390 per share, aggregating to a total consideration of up to Rs 3,142.35 crore.

The Aditya Birla group firm has said that India Cement Ltd (ICL) would remain a listed entity. In June, UltraTech acquired a 23 per cent stake in ICL through two block deals estimated at around Rs 1,900 crore. UltraTech has entered into a share purchase agreement for a 28.42 per cent stake from promoters - Srinivasan N, Chitra Srinivasan, Rupa Gurunath and S K Asokh Baalaje, and a 4.30 per cent share from Sri Saradha Logistics.