Lafarge India initiates sale of cement units

French cement-maker Lafarge's India arm has initiated the process of sale of its India business with the appointment of two investment bankers. The business comprising cements plants with a production capacity of 11Mta is valued at about INR110bn (US$1.647bn), the Business Standard reported.

Piramal Enterprises, JSW Cement, CRH, KKR and Blackstone are cited as likely buyers, according to the paper. Last month, Lafarge India's entire India business was put on the market after a failed deal with Birla Corporation to sell two cement factories with combined production capacity of 5.1Mta.

"The Group is no longer in discussion with Birla Corporation Limited (BCL) for the sale of the Jojobera and Sonadih cement plants in Eastern India that was announced earlier. The BCL proposal involved the divestment of 5.1Mta capacity by Lafarge India," LafargeHolcim said in a statement. The deal was valued at about INR50bn.

"Holcim's ACC and Ambuja have capacities of 6.1Mta and 4.6Mta, respectively, in the eastern region. A simple merger would have led to a capacity of 18.5Mta in the eastern states for Holcim-Lafarge, which would have been a little more than 40 per cent of the estimated 46Mta of total capacity in the region. This led to CCI scrutiny," the daily said.