Adani pledges $13-bn Ambuja, ACC shares

According to separate filings made to the stock exchanges on Tuesday by Deutsche Bank AG’s Hong Kong branch, about 57 per cent of ACC and 63 per cent of Ambuja Cements have been pledged “for the benefit of certain lenders and other finance parties”.

Days after completing its $6.5-billion acquisition of Ambuja Cements and ACC and chalking out plans to double the cement manufacturing capacity to 140 million tonne in the next five years, Adani Group has pledged shares of the two companies valued at $13 billion based on Monday’s closing price.

According to separate filings made to the stock exchanges on Tuesday by Deutsche Bank AG’s Hong Kong branch, about 57 per cent of ACC and 63 per cent of Ambuja Cements have been pledged “for the benefit of certain lenders and other finance parties”.

Endeavour Trade and Investment and Xcent Trade and Investment are entities linked to Adani Group and are part of the agreements under which the shares have been pledged. In August, Endeavour Trade had received approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for acquisition of stake in Holderind Investments, a Mauritius-based holding company of Holcim’s India unit. After completing the acquisition of the two cements firms last week, Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani had said he saw a multifold rise in cement demand in the country on the back of record-breaking economic growth.

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