Gautam Adani has concluded the acquisition of Ambuja Cements and ACC with a promise to topple Kumar Mangalam Birlaowned UltraTech. A new, aggressive board has been inducted at both companies, and the chairman’s position will be held by Gautam Adani at Ambuja and his son Karan Adani at ACC. Ajay Kapoor, erstwhile CEO of Ambuja, who can set the ball rolling, has been appointed as CEO. Interestingly, a common CFO, Vinod Bahety, has been appointed for both ACEM and ACC. Further, the Adani family has announced a Rs 20,000-crore equity infusion via warrants in Ambuja at a price of Rs 418.87 per share. This would increase the promoter’s stake to 70.6% on complete vesting. The next step would be to merge the two companies in a year’s time. Ambuja’s and ACC’s cash reserve of Rs 11,000 crore and equity infusion of Rs 20,000 crore will empower the management to pursue organic and inorganic growth as well as invest in cost improvement.

The Adani group recently reiterated its target to increase capacities to 140 mtpa (from 70 mtpa currently) in five years and become the largest cement producer by 2030 — thus giving sleepless nights to Birla. Birla is already talking to other Birla family factions to buy out their stakes in cement companies.

Birla is likely to buy out Orient Cement and Kesoram’s cement business from his family members. Ambuja is talking to regional cement players for an acquisition. Insiders say the Nirma group would also like to exit the cement industry if they get a good offer.