(Bloomberg) -- An arm of the Adani Group will acquire construction company ITD Cementation India Ltd. as the conglomerate bolsters execution capabilities of its infrastructure projects.
Dubai-based Renew Exim DMCC, a unit of billionaire Gautam Adani’s port-to-power group, has agreed to buy 46.64% of the firm from Thailand’s largest contractor for 32 billion rupees ($381 million), according to filings Friday.
Renew Exim will pay 400 rupees a piece to Italian-Thai Development Pcl — a 25% discount to ITD Cementation’s last closing price of 533.65 rupees. It will also make an open offer for a 26% stake in ITD Cementation at a price of 571.68 rupee per share.
The acquisition will boost the Adani Group’s capabilities to execute complex infrastructure projects in India. It has been snapping up cement makers to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal of modernizing the creaking infrastructure in the country of 1.4 billion people.
For the Thai construction giant, the deal comes at a time it’s grappling with a liquidity crunch. That has forced it to divest investments in some businesses and extend the payment deadline for some of its debt. The contractor has racked up annual losses every year since 2020 as it took on engineering projects, including in India, Taiwan and Myanmar.
Italian-Thai Development expects that “all conditions precedent will be completed by January 2025”, according to a statement.
Earlier this week, Adani’s cement unit Ambuja Cements Ltd., agreed to acquire Orient Cement Ltd. in a deal valued at 81 billion rupees.
The conglomerate is back in expansionist mode after recovering from a scathing attack by short-seller Hindenburg Research in early 2023. Hindenburg’s accusations of fraud and “brazen” stock price manipulation wiped out more than $150 billion in the empire’s market value at one point. The group has repeatedly denied the charges.
--With assistance from Anuchit Nguyen and Alex Gabriel Simon.
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