Nirma eyes Rs 4,000 crore IPO for cement arm
Billionaire industrialist Karsanbhai Patel founded Nirma Group is betting big on the cement sector and is gearing up for a mega IPO as part of its next major move in the segment after the $1.4bn buyout of Lafarge India's assets in 2016, three individuals familiar with ongoing negotiations told ET NOW on the condition of anonymity. In July 2016, the Ahmedabad-based detergents and chemicals maker stunned India Inc by outbidding rivals JSW Cement & Piramal Enterprises and acquiring the Lafarge India business which has a total capacity of about 11 million tonnes per annum. " They are looking to mainly reduce debt via the proposed IPO & also raise growth capital and are targeting a listing before March 2019. Prior to the proposed IPO of Nuvoco Vistas, the Rajasthan cement plant may be transferred to Nuvoco Vistas so that all domestic cement assets are housed under the same umbrella," added a second source. Nuvoco has six plants in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Bengal and Haryana running at 95 per cent capacity utilization. In addition to the six plants, the standalone cement unit in Rajasthan has a capacity of around 2 million tonnes per annum.
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