Zurich: holsim Will use cash from the sale of its Indian business to fund acquisitions focused on building products and solutions, CEO jan genisho Said on Monday, the cement maker is currently looking at 10 possible targets.
Holcim has agreed to sell its Indian business to the Adani Group for $6.38 billion, its biggest disinvestment in years, as it seeks to lower its carbon profile and raise funds for acquisitions.
Over the past 15 months, Holcim has spent $4.99 billion on several companies outside the cement market as it moves toward manufacturing products such as roofing and mortar.
“We’re hopeful that we can keep up that kind of momentum and work this money out a lot faster,” chief executive Jan Janish told reporters.
“At the moment we have about 10 transactions being investigated, we are negotiating. They are small transactions, they are large transactions,” Janish told reporters.
“We are ready for another Firestone,” he said, referring to the $3.4 billion purchase of US roofing business Holcim last year.
Zenish said the company will also look at smaller bolt on deals in the aggregate and ready-mix concrete sectors.
He said the sale of the Indian operations, which included 31 cement plants, would reduce Holcim’s CO2 profile.
Making cement is an energy-intensive industrial process that produces high levels of carbon, a situation that has frightened many investors and weighed on Holcim’s share price.
Its shares were tipped to be up 2.9% in premarket activity.
“About 26% of our CO2 emissions are in India, so we will have a very small CO2 footprint,” Janish said.
“We will always make cement, but we will decarbonize cement. We are happy to build other areas such as manufacturing solutions and products.”
After sales in India, the proportion of Holcim’s total sales in building products has grown to around 20%, with the company aiming for a share of around 30%, he said.
Holcim has agreed to sell its Indian business to the Adani Group for $6.38 billion, its biggest disinvestment in years, as it seeks to lower its carbon profile and raise funds for acquisitions.
Over the past 15 months, Holcim has spent $4.99 billion on several companies outside the cement market as it moves toward manufacturing products such as roofing and mortar.
“We’re hopeful that we can keep up that kind of momentum and work this money out a lot faster,” chief executive Jan Janish told reporters.
“At the moment we have about 10 transactions being investigated, we are negotiating. They are small transactions, they are large transactions,” Janish told reporters.
“We are ready for another Firestone,” he said, referring to the $3.4 billion purchase of US roofing business Holcim last year.
Zenish said the company will also look at smaller bolt on deals in the aggregate and ready-mix concrete sectors.
He said the sale of the Indian operations, which included 31 cement plants, would reduce Holcim’s CO2 profile.
Making cement is an energy-intensive industrial process that produces high levels of carbon, a situation that has frightened many investors and weighed on Holcim’s share price.
Its shares were tipped to be up 2.9% in premarket activity.
“About 26% of our CO2 emissions are in India, so we will have a very small CO2 footprint,” Janish said.
“We will always make cement, but we will decarbonize cement. We are happy to build other areas such as manufacturing solutions and products.”
After sales in India, the proportion of Holcim’s total sales in building products has grown to around 20%, with the company aiming for a share of around 30%, he said.