Gautam Adani was appointed chairman of Ambuja Cements on Friday, after the conclusion of the acquisition of Switzerland-based building materials company Holcim’s India businesses, Ambuja Cements and ACC. His eldest son Karan was designated a director of both cement firms and chairman of ACC.
These would be new responsibilities for Karan, who is also the chief executive officer of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone.
Adani Group has also appointed new independent directors to the boards of the two companies. Former State Bank of India (SBI) chairman Rajnish Kumar served on the Ambuja Cement board, while former Shell India CEO Nitin Shukla served on the ACC board.
The conglomerate has appointed Ajay Kumar as the new CEO of Ambuja Cement, succeeding Neeraj Akhoury, and Sridhar Balakrishnan as the CEO of ACC. Vinod Bahety was also named chief financial officer by ACC.
Adani Group’s acquisition of Holcim’s India assets, announced on May 15, also marked Adani Group’s entry into the cement sector, catapulting it to second place with a total output capacity of 67.5 million tonne per annum (MTPA).
Separately, Ambuja Cements would raise up to Rs 20,000 crore through preferential warrant issue to Harmonia Trade and Investment, an Adani family concern.
