Mumbai, March 22 :
In a complex equity rejig, Gujarat Ambuja Cement has offloaded a 40 per cent stake in Ambuja Cement India Ltd to foreign institutional investors while transferring 94 per cent of its stake in Ambuja Cement Eastern Ltd to Ambuja India.
The 40 per cent GACL stake in Ambuja India has been sold to three FIIs for Rs 370 crore. The three FIIs which have picked up the stake are: AIG Asian Institutional Fund II (AAIF II), GIC Special Investments Pte Ltd and the AIG Asian Opportunity Fund.
AAIF II, with $ 1.7 billion in commitments, makes equity and convertible securities investments in the infrastructure and infrastructure related sectors in India, China, Korea, the Philippines, Thailand and other Asian countries. GIC SI is the private equity arm of GIC, which is the largest global investment institution in Singapore.
On the other hand, GACL has transferred its 94 per cent stake in Ambuja Cement Eastern Ltd (formerly Modi Cements) to Ambuja India for Rs 415 crore.
Company sources said the amount raised by offloading the 40 per cent stake in Ambuja India would be used for 'debt repayment'.
Ambuja India had earlier acquired a 7.2 per cent stake in ACC for Rs 455.10 crore.
According to the new scheme of things, Ambuja India is planning to develop a 2 million tonne greenfield cement plant in Andhra Pradesh which was earlier proposed to be implemented by Ambuja Cement.
'Ambuja India has been set up to augment cement capacities in India by way of developing new plants as well as expansion or existing capacities,' a press statement by GACL said.
On the sale of its stake in Ambuja Eastern, GACL said it comprises of 16,60,57,827 equity shares at a price of Rs 25 per share. The sale, it added, had resulted in a profit of Rs 249 crore for the company. With this transfer, Ambuja India will have a 1.5 million tonne cement plant in Raipur. The plant's capacity is now being enhanced to 2 million tonnes.