Binani Cement to divest 10.9% to Mauritius fund

Credit Suisse Pvt is set to pick up nearly 11 per cent stake in Binani Cement for Rs 149.65 crore.

In a notice to stock exchanges, Binani Industries said that it had decided to divest 10.09 per cent in its subsidiary Binani Cements to Ganesha Prime Holdings (Mauritius), a subsidiary of Credit Suisse Pvt Equity Partners Asia, L.P.

Binani Industries is divesting 20,500,000 equity shares of Binani Cement to the Mauritius-based private equity fund at Rs 73 a share.

Kolkata-based Binani Group operates in three segments such as cement, zinc and glass fibre. Meanwhile, the Binani Industries stock closed 9.99 per cent higher on Bombay Stock Exchange today against yesterday's close of Rs 159.15.

The Binani-Credit Suisse deal follows a number of private equity investment in the cement sector. Analysts said M&A and private equity investments in these sector are logical follow up of the growth being fuelled by increase in infrastructure development projects and the real estate sectors.

Recently, private equity investor Actis picked up 11 per cent stake in Dalmia Cements (Bharat) for $25 million. Binani Industries had earlier approved to swap up to 50 per cent of the company's equity with the shares of Binani Cement and Binani Zinc.