Adani’s open offer for ACC, Ambuja draws lukewarm investor response

Adani Group’s ₹31,000-crore open offer to acquire 26% additional stakes in Swiss firm Holcim’s two Indian listed entities ACC Ltd. and Ambuja Cements closed on Friday amid lacklustre response from public shareholders.

According to the latest regulatory filing by ACC Ltd., till 6:40 p.m. on Friday, about 40.51 lakh equity shares were tendered against the original offer of 4.89 crore shares, which is just 8.28%.

Similarly, for Ambuja Cements only 1.35% of shares were tendered.

According to the latest regulatory updates on Saturday morning, only 6.97 lakh shares of Ambuja Cements have been tendered in the escrow demat account compared to the original offer for 51.63 crore shares from the public shareholders.

The offer for both companies opened on August 26.

In May, the Adani Group had made an open offer at ₹2,300 per share for ACC and ₹385 per share for Ambuja Cements Ltd. following its deal to acquire a controlling stake in Holcim’s businesses in India for $10.5 billion.

The open offer was estimated at more than ₹31,000 crore if fully subscribed.

However, on Friday when the open offer ended, shares of ACC settled at ₹2,365 on the BSE, 2.82% higher than the offer price.

Ambuja Cements settled at ₹453.90 on the BSE, which is 17.9% higher than the offer price.

Though on Friday, which was the last day of the open offer, ACC had reported a spurt in volume by more than 2.13 times, while Ambuja Cements traded at a new 52-week high of ₹484.70 per share.

The letter of offer for the open offer was launched by the Adani family group’s Mauritius-based firm Endeavour Trade and Investment.

Endeavour Trade and Investment is promoted by Acropolis Trade and Investment Ltd., which is held by certain members of the Adani family.

On May 15, the Adani Group announced a deal to acquire a controlling stake in Holcim Ltd’s businesses in India for $10.5 billion (about ₹83,920 crore current value), marking the ports-to-energy conglomerate’s entry into the cement sector.

Adani Group will acquire 63.1% of Ambuja Cements along with related assets. Ambuja’s local subsidiaries include ACC, which is also publicly traded.

Swiss building material major Holcim, through its subsidiaries, holds 63.2% in Ambuja Cements and 54.5% in ACC (of which 50.1% is held through Ambuja Cements).

Ambuja Cements and ACC currently have a combined installed production capacity of 70 million tonnes per annum. The two companies together have 23 cement plants, 14 grinding stations, 80 ready-mix concrete plants and over 50,000 channel partners across India.