Suppressing any more offers for the top peninsular manufacturer, UltraTech Cement has acquired a 23% interest in India Cements for around Rs 19 billion, in what is becoming a fierce battle for control over capabilities in the highly regionalized and freight-intensive cement business. After China, the cement sector is the second biggest globally. According to the acquirer’s usual reports on Thursday morning, UltraTech, a division of the Aditya Birla Group, which is the country’s largest cement manufacturer, bought 70.6 million shares of India Cements as a “non-controlling financial investment” for as much as Rs 267 per share.

UltraTech purchased the stakes held by billionaire investor Radhakishan Damani, his family, and his investing firms, Derive Investments and Derive Trading and Resorts. Anand Rathi Institutional Equities research analyst Manish Valecha stated that UltraTech had invested Rs 1,900 crore to block the capacity of about 15 million tonnes. He stated that UltraTech was currently leading the competition in terms of additions as a result. In response to the open offer, Valecha stated that the 15 million tons would not be made accessible to anybody else, whether it happened now or later.

Valecha said that this action by UltraTech came after news broke that Adani Cement was buying South-based Penna Industries, a company with a 14 million-ton capacity. He also mentioned that JSW Cement and Adani Cement were competitors for Damani’s share of India Cements.

By March 2027, UltraTech, which presently has a 23-24% market share in India, wants to reach 200 million tons of production capacity. With 19 million tonnes added in only one year, the business has now added more than 50 million tonnes of capacity in just five years. Although the cement production in India’s southern markets accounts for one-third of the nation’s total, UltraTech’s presence in this region was previously less than that of other regions.

UltraTech’s plan to increase its market share in the south included the acquisition of Kesoram Industries’ cement division last year, which had a 10.75 million tons capacity and manufacturing facilities in Telangana and Karnataka.

UltraTech’s commitment to growing in this region is further demonstrated by its investment in India Cements, a significant player in south India with operations in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana and a capacity of about 13 million tonnes. A portion of the 28.42% of shares that N. Srinivasan and his family own in India Cements are pledged. Since September 2019, Damani’s ownership of India Cements has progressively increased, reaching 22.76% by December 2021.