Adani Group Promoter Sheds 2.8% Stake in Ambuja Cement, Increase Rs 4,254 Crore

                New Delhi: Adani Group promoter on Friday 
divested nearly a 2.8 per cent stake in Ambuja 
Cements to investors like GQG Partners for Rs 
4,250 crore via open market transactions. 
The promoter sold the stake of Ambuja 
Cements as part of a regular adjustment of 
holdings they carry to keep stake across the 
ports-to-energy conglomerate at desired levels. 
Meanwhile, Rajiv Jain-backed GQG Partners 
purchased more than 4.39 crore shares, 
amounting to a 1.78 per cent stake in Ambuja 
Cements through bulk and block deals in two 
separate transactions. The shares were bought 
at an average price of Rs 625.50 apiece, taking 
the combined deal value to Rs 2,746.79 crore. 
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buy, Fort Lauderdale-based asset management 
firm GQG Partners increased its stake in 
Ambuja Cements to 3.13 per cent from 1.35 
per 
cent. According to the block deal data 
available on the National Stock Exchange 
(NSE), Holderind Investments Ltd, promoter in 
Ambuja Cements, sold 6.79 crore shares, 
amounting to 
a 2.8 per cent stake in the company. The 
shares were offloaded at an average price of 
Rs 625.50 apiece, taking the transaction value 
to Rs 4,250.64 crore. After the stake sale, 
Holderind Investments’ shareholding in 
Ambuja Cements has declined to 48.1 per cent 
from 50.90 per cent. Also, the combined stake 
of promoters of Ambuja Cements has reduced 
to 
67.53 per cent from 70.33 per cent. Also Read - 
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These shares were picked up by Axis 
Mutual Fund (MF), Baroda BNP Paribas MF, 
ICICI Prudential MF, Invesco MF, Mirae Asset 
MF, Canara HSBC Life Insurance Company, SBI 
Life Insurance, and National Pension 
System (NPS) Trust. Also, US-based Morgan 
Stanley and The Vanguard Group as well as 
Norway government’s pension fund were 
among the buyers of Ambuja Cements’ shares. 
Billionaire Gautam Adani-led promoter group 
holds shares worth $125 billion across the 10 
listed companies of the conglomerate. 
Sources said the adjustments in the holdings 
are 
done on a regular basis to keep the promoters’ 
interest at a desired level. The equity 
adjustments typically range from 0.5 per cent 
to 3 per cent. Also Read - ‘SBI able to support 
loan 
growth, low deposit growth not a challenge’ 
The stake sale in Ambuja Cement is part of 
that and is not linked to any debt reduction, 
they said. Ambuja is one of the two firms that 
Adani 
bought in 2022 from Holcim Ltd to emerge as 
India’s second-largest cement maker 
overnight. Shares of Ambuja Cements rose 
0.51 per cent to close at Rs 635 apiece on the 
NSE on 
Friday. On Monday, the conglomerate said it 
has enough cash to cover more than 30 
months of debt payments and that its 
businesses are firing on all cylinders. Cash 
balance at the 
group accounted for 24.8 per cent of gross 
debt of Rs 2.41 lakh crore as of the end of 
June, up from 17.7 per cent a year earlier, it 
had said in a statement. It had said that “24.77 
per 
cent of gross debt is in the form of cash 
balances providing liquidity to cover 30 
months of debt servicing”. The conglomerate 
saw June quarter pre-tax profit surge 33 per 
cent on the 
back of strong performance by the core 
infrastructure business as also emerging 
businesses ranging from solar and wind 
manufacturing to airports. “EBITDA (in April-
June) surged 
32.87 per cent year-on-year to reach Rs 22,570 
crore, resulting in a trailing twelve-month 
(TTM) EBITDA of Rs 79,180 crore, marking a 
45.13 per cent increase over the corresponding 
TTM of the previous year,” the group said.


Source : The Economic Time