Ambuja Cements slumps after Holcim restructures India operations

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Shares in Ambuja Cements Ltd slumped as much as 15 percent in early morning trade after Holcim Ltd said on Wednesday that it would raise stake in the company in a restructuring of its operations in India.

Under the deal, Ambuja will pay 35 billion rupees to buy a 24 percent stake in Holcim India, the Swiss cement maker's local holding company, and then Holcim India will be merged into Ambuja through a share swap.

Ambuja will also issue to Holcim 584 million new shares, valued at about 112 billion rupees at current market value. This will increase Holcim's stake in Ambuja to 61.39 percent from just over 50 percent.

 

(Reporting by Abhishek Vishnoi; Editing by Anand Basu)