Siam City Cement Pcl (SCCC), Thailand’s second-largest cement maker, said on Monday it has signed a deal to buy a Sri Lankan cement company from Holderfin B.V., a unit of LafargeHolcim, for 13.1 billion baht ($ 374 million).
SCCC said in a statement that the deal will give it the largest share of the cement market in Sri Lanka, diversify its revenue sources and provide an opportunity to expand in South Asia.
SCCC, controlled by Thailand’s Ratanarak family, will use one-year credit facilities from Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ to finance the purchase, it said.
Holcim (Lanka) operates the sole fully integrated cement plant with an annual capacity of about 1.3 million tonnes in Puttalam.
The company also operates a cement grinding facility in Galle with annual capacity of about one million tons and manages three terminals with packing capacities in three local ports with total import capacity of 1.6 million tons.
Seven bidders expressed interest in buying LafargeHolcim’s Sri Lankan operations which included SCCC of Thailand, business tycoon Harry Jayawardane, Dalmia Bharat India, Shree Cement along with South-based Ramco and Dubai based ONYX Group in United Arab Emirates (of Nandana Lokuwithana)
An official representing Harry Jayawardane said that they loss the bid as it was beyond their financial limit.
An official from ONYX Group in United Arab Emirates said that their investor team analysed the deal and found that value of Holcim Lanka was US$ 309 million out of which US $ 48 million was liability. “Our bid was for around US$ 261 million and we were contacted by Holcim company to up the bid. But we declined.”
ONYX Group of Dubai own and manage The Oruwala Steel factory in SL, steel plants in Sharjah and star class hotels in UAE. During election times Yahapalana propagandists spread that ONYX is owned or funded by Hon. Mahinda Rajapaksa.