India Cements board undergoes rejig, CEO N Srinivasan resigns after UltraTech’s acquisition deal; details here | Company Business News-OxBig News Network

India Cement’s board is set to undergo a comprehensive restructuring after UltraTech Cement’s ₹7,000-crore acquisition of the Chennai-based cement maker. India Cement’s Chief Executive Officer N Srinivasan, along with several other board members, tendered their resignations with immediate effect on Wednesday, December 25, according to a BSE filing.

N Srinivasan’s daughter Rupa Gurunath, his wife Chitra Srinivasan, and VM Mohan have also resigned from the board of directors. Independent directors such as S Balasubramanian Adityan, Krishna Srivastava, Lakshmi Aparna Sreekumar and Sandhya Rajan have also resigned, according to the exchange filing. 

According to the exchange filing, CFO R Srinivasan will retire on January 1, 2025.

The development came after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on December 20 approved the acquisition of nearly 10.13 crore equity shares, which represents 32.72 per cent of the share capital of India Cements by UltraTech.

The antitrust watchdog also approved an open offer of 8.05 crore shares representing 26 per cent of the share capital from public shareholders at a price of ₹390 per share.

UltraTech Cement announced on December 24 that it had completed the acquisition of a 32.72 per cent stake in India Cements. 

With this acquisition, the total shareholding of the company increased to 55.49 per cent, making UltraTech Cement the majority shareholder in the Chennai-based cement manufacturer.

UltraTech Cement’s shares closed 0.63 per cent lower at ₹11,395.55 on Tuesday, December 24, compared to ₹11,467.90 at the previous market close.

On the other hand, India Cements Ltd shares closed 1.75 per cent higher at ₹372.55 after Tuesday’s trading session, compared to ₹366.15 at the previous market close. The stock markets remained closed on Wednesday on account of Christmas. 

India Cements’ market share 

According to the research agency Tranxcn’s data, as of last month, India Cements holds 8 per cent of the domestic cement market. RK Group-owned Wonder WallCare has a 39 per cent market share, followed by Aditya Birla-owned UltraTech Cement at 21 per cent, Adani Group-owned Ambuja Cement at 13 per cent, and Dalmia Bharat and Sagar Cements at 8 per cent each. 

After the resignations, the remaining board of India Cements appointed four new directors — KC Jhanwar, Vivek Agrawal, ER Raj Narayanan and Ashok Ramachandran, along with independent directors such as Alka Bharucha, Vikas Balia and Sukanya Kripalu.