Informist, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025

--Sources: Shree Digvijay Cement port can work as satellite port to Mundra

--Sources: Adani group mulls buying Shree Digvijay Cement's plant, port

--Sources: Adani group chairman, director visit Digvijay plant, port Jul-Aug

By Sunil Raghu

AHMEDABAD - The Adani group is interested in acquiring Shree Digvijay Cement Co. Ltd., which runs a 1.2 million tonnes per annum cement plant and a 1.10 million tonnes per annum clinker facility at Jamnagar district in Gujarat, four people aware of the development told Informist.

Shree Digvijay Cement, which traces its history back to 1944, sells cement under the Kamal Cement brand. Indian private equity firm True North had in 2018 bought the controlling stake in Shree Digvijay Cement for INR 1.7 billion-INR 2.5 billion from Brazilian cement maker Votorantim Cementos and its affiliate. True North Fund VI LLP currently holds a 54.66% stake in Shree Digvijay Cement. Some media reports said that True North is looking to sell Shree Digvijay Cement at a valuation of INR 13 billion.

Shares of Shree Digvijay Cement rose sharply on the news. Monday, shares ended 9.9% higher at INR 104.08, after touching a high of INR 107.70.

In 2024-25 (Apr–Mar), the company produced 1.35 million tonnes of cement and 1 million tonnes of clinker, and sold 1.37 million tonnes of cement. It has also secured environmental clearance to raise capacity to 3 million tonnes per annum of cement and 2.21 million tonnes of clinker facility, with a new 3 million tonne grinding unit nearing completion. Shree Digvijay Cement also owns a 27% stake in an 8.1 MW hybrid wind-solar project run by Trinethra Renewable Energy and Continuum Green Energy.

"Both Gautam Adani and Pranav Adani have visited Digvijaygram at Sikka, which houses cement manufacturing, clinker units and the captive port," a government official aware of the developments at the Sikka port said. "Pranav Adani has visited the Digvijay Cement plant and port more than once."

Pranav Adani is a director on the board of Adani Enterprises Ltd. and is the son of Vinod Adani, the elder brother of Gautam Adani. He plays a key role in the group's broader portfolio management. While Karan Adani, son of Gautam Adani, looks after the group's cement business, it is Pranav Adani who has been put in charge of Jamnagar projects, a senior Adani group official said.

The talk of the Adani group eyeing Shree Digvijay Cement comes amid media reports that the group has entered the real estate business in Jamnagar city and surrounding areas. As per local media reports, the Adani group recently struck a deal with the erstwhile royal family of Jamnagar to develop prime real estate in the city and in the district. According to these reports, the Adani group plans to develop real estate projects on lands owned by the erstwhile royal family and share profits. The former royal family owns large sites in Jamnagar city, including the Palace grounds and the Peter Scott Sanctuary. They also own thousands of acres of land in the surrounding district.

Shree Digvijay Cement's Sikka plant is also integrated with an 8.5-MW waste heat recovery system. Moreover, the captive Sikka port can directly handle 3,000–5,000 dead weight tonnage vessels, while larger ships of up to 100,000 DWT can anchor offshore. The captive facility supports coal imports as well as cement and clinker exports and operates under a build-operate-maintain-transfer licence from the Gujarat Maritime Board. Other than Shree Digvijay Cement, Reliance Industries Ltd., and Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd., extensively use Sikka port for their operations.

The Adani group had earlier acquired Sanghi Industries Ltd. in 2023 for around INR 50 billion. Sanghi Industries has a 6.1 million tonnes per annum clinker and 6.1 million tonnes cement capacity, plus a captive port on the north side of the Gulf of Kutch. Although the scale is smaller, there is a lot of similarity between Sanghi and Shree Digvijay Cement. It also has cement clinker and cement manufacturing units, as well as a port. Unlike Sanghi facilities, Shree Digvijay Cement facilities are on the south side of the Gulf of Kutch. The straight distance between the Adani group's Mundra port and Sikka port across the channel is less than 50 kilometres. A senior Gujarat government official said that the captive port at Sikka can also be used as a satellite facility for Mundra port, like the Sanghi port.

Besides Sanghi Industries, the Adani group has acquired a sizeable stake in Penna Cement Industries Ltd., Orient Cement Ltd., and ITD Cementation India Ltd. in the last two years. They have paid around INR 265-270 billion to buy the stake and added nearly 36 million tonnes per annum of cement capacity. Following the addition, the Adani group's current cement manufacturing capacity stands at 102 million tonnes. The company targets to reach 140 million tonnes of capacity by 2027-28 (Apr-Mar).

"Shree Digvijay Cement appears small for the Adani group to take a look at and valuation appears costly," a former Adani group official, who was part of the last four cement company buys of the group, said. "One of the key reasons they could buy is to maintain hold over the coastal area of the Gulf of Kutch and enter Jamnagar district, the stronghold of Reliance Industries."

The questions sent to the Adani group and True North for comments remained unanswered till the writing of this article.

Monday, shares of Ambuja Cements Ltd., the flagship Adani cement company, ended 0.7% higher at INR 581 on the National Stock Exchange. End

Edited by Saji George Titus

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