VicatSagar Cement to raises money for expansion
VicatSagar Cement Limited, a 51:49 joint venture between France-based Vicat and Andhra Pradesh Sagar Cements, is raising a little over Rs 400 crore through debt and equity from external sources to set up its Rs 1,600 crore cement plant in Karnataka. The 2.7 million tonnes per annum integrated cement plant will come up near Chatrasala village, Gulbarga district in Karnataka, on the border of Andhra Pradesh.
The project consists of the first phase of a two-phase development program and also involves the construction of a 40 MW captive power plant, a waste heat recovery unit and necessary infrastructure to accommodate a doubling of the plant’s capacity when the two-phase program is completed in the future.
The project is scheduled to start commercial operations in 2012 and is expected to create close to 600 direct and over 1500 indirect jobs around the region both during the construction and operational stages. Vicat, the majority owner is a multi-regional manufacturer and distributor of cement, aggregates, ready-mix concrete and related building materials and has a cement production capacity of 18.6 mtpa spread over 11 countries. Vicat is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange. Sagar, the other main shareholder, has a production capacity of 2.6 mtpa.
Vicat, during June 2008, bought a stake in Sagar Cements and also agreed to form a Rs 2,500-crore joint venture with the Hyderabad-based cement maker. Vicat picked up a 6.67 per cent stake in SCL for Rs 70 crore at Rs 700 per share.
Both the companies during the transaction had detailed that the JV will be financed through a capital contribution of Rs 720 crore, with SCL contributing Rs 196 crore and Vicat putting in Rs 524 crore.
SCL, which has one cement making facility in the Nalgonda district, is undergoing expansion to take its overall capacity to 2.5Mt by July and its clinker capacity to 2.35Mt by July. Published under Cement News
