Birla Corp Surges 20% on Acquisition of Lafarge Units

Birla Corp shares surged nearly 20 per cent to Rs 543 on Monday after it announced the acquisition of two cement units from Lafarge India for an enterprise value of Rs 5,000 crore.

Birla Corp will acquire both Jojobera (Jharkhand) and Sonadih (Chhattisgarh) units of Lafarge India that have a combined capacity of 5.15 million tonnes per annum. The transaction will be funded through existing reserves and incremental debt and is subject to regulatory approvals, Birla Corp said.

Lafarge is selling the assets following its merger with Holcim. Fair trade watchdog Competition Commission of India has given its green signal for the Holcim-Lafarge merger deal that would create the world's largest cement group but had directed Lafarge to sell these two plants to address anti-competition concerns.

Birla Corp is part of MP Birla group with presence in cement and jute. Birla Corp has a total cement capacity of 15 million tonnes per annum.