Axis MF, GQG Partners, SBI Life Insurance, others buy stake in Ambuja Cements worth ₹4,250 crore

 Ambuja Cements bulk/block deals: Rajiv Jain-backed GQG Partners Inc purchased over 4.39 crore shares, amounting to a 1.78 per cent stake in Ambuja Cements through bulk and block deals in two separate transactions on Friday, August 23. The shares were bought at an average price of ₹625.50 apiece, taking the combined deal value to ₹2,746.79 crore.

After the stake purchase, Fort Lauderdale-based asset management firm GQG Partners increased its stake in Ambuja Cements to 3.13 per cent from 1.35 per cent. The US-based boutique investment firm emerged as the largest buyer in the stake sale of Ambuja Cements by an Adani Group-owned company. 

Also Read: Ambuja Cements share price surges 4% amid reports of promoters selling some stake via block deal

Ambuja Cements block deal details

Adani-owned Holderind Investments, which owned a nearly 51 per cent stake in Ambuja Cements as of June end, divested an almost 2.8 per cent stake worth ₹4,250 crore via open market transactions on Friday.

According to the block deal data available on 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 ₹625.50 apiece, taking the transaction value to ₹4,250.64 crore.

According to news agency PTI, the promoter sold the stake of Ambuja Cements as part of a regular adjustment of holdings they carry to keep the stake across the ports-to-energy conglomerate at desired levels.

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: Adani family plans to raise $3.6 bn via promoter share sales

According to NSE data, 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. 

NSE block deal data also showed that the US-based investment banker Morgan Stanley, the Vanguard Group, and the Norwegian government's pension fund were also among the buyers of Ambuja Cements' shares.

Billionaire Gautam Adani's promoter group holds shares worth $125 billion across the conglomerate's 10 listed companies. ACCording to PTI, the holdings are adjusted regularly to keep the promoters' interest at a desired level.

Equity adjustments typically range from 0.5 per cent to three per cent. The stake sale in Ambuja Cement is part of that and is not linked to any debt reduction. Ambuja Cements is one of the two firms that the Adani Group bought in 2022 from Holcim Ltd to emerge as India's second-largest cement maker.

Also Read: Ambuja Cements’ Penna acquisition could take time to bear fruit

Ambuja Cements Q1 Results

Ambuja Cements Ltd reported a consolidated net profit at ₹789.63 crore for the first quarter ended on June 2024. The company had reported a net profit of ₹1,135.46 crore in the April-June period a year ago. Revenue from operations was at ₹8,311.48 crore during the June quarter compared to ₹8,712.90 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.

Ambuja Cement's sales volume, which also includes ACC, was 15.8 million tonnes (MT), up 2.6 per cent. The company's earnings statement said these were the “highest ever Clinker & Cement sales in Q1 over the last five years. ”On Friday, shares of Ambuja Cements settled 0.10 per cent higher at ₹633.55 apiece on the BSE.

Adani Group business update

On Monday, the conglomerate said it has enough cash to cover more than 30 months of debt payments. As of the end of June, the group's cash balance ACCounted for 24.8 per cent of its gross debt of ₹2.41 lakh crore, up from 17.7 per cent a year earlier.

The conglomerate saw its June quarter pre-tax profit surge 33 per cent on the back of strong performance by the core infrastructure business and emerging businesses ranging from solar and wind manufacturing to airports.

"EBITDA (in April-June) surged 32.87 per cent year-on-year to reach ₹22,570 crore, resulting in a trailing twelve-month (TTM) EBITDA of ₹79,180 crore, marking a 45.13 per cent increase over the corresponding TTM of the previous year," said group. The group's net profit jumped over 50 per cent to ₹10,279 crore in the April-June period of the current fiscal year.