Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has narrowed down on three bidders for the proposed strategic partnership in its cement business.
Speaking at the company's 56th annual general meeting in Mumbai today, L&T chairman A M Naik said the due diligence by the three bidders had been completed recently. The company had also provided various joint venture documents to the potential partners with a view to reaching an agreement on the joint venture terms before the bidders put in their final bids.
L&T said it was sharing all details to ensure "against dilution of the value of the bids and also against a loss of time in signing the agreements".
Naik also said the company had launched several other initiatives for enhancing competitiveness and has also initiated steps to enhance international presence. These initiatives have already resulted in the company bagging major orders from the Middle East, Sri Lanka, Europe and the UK which has helped the company boost its export earnings from Rs 316 crore in the previous year to Rs 725 crore last year.
The company has also set up Larsen and Toubro E-engineering Solutions to offer high-end software solutions in engineering design and product data management.
On the order book position, the chairman said the company had booked orders worth Rs 10, 427 crore as against the previous year's Rs 8,414 crore.
The engineering and construction business, which is the largest business of the company, also executed prestigious projects like the Jamnagar-Loni LPG pipeline for Gail, refinery packages for IOCL, 400 kv GIS installation in the Sardar Sarovar Project and a 220 kv overhead transmission line in UAE.
On the cement business, Naik said improved price realisation in the domestic market during the last quarter coupled with a sustained cost reduction and production efficiency measures have enabled the company to improve operating margins from 12 per cent in the previous year to 17 per cent in 2000-01.
The company has also commissioned its one million tonne grinding unit at Arakonam in Tamil Nadu and is expected to commission another one million tonne grinding unit in Durgapur in West Bengal, during the year which would take the group's cement capacity to 16 million tonne.
