CEMENT manufacturer CRH is said to be in the race to buy two cement plants owned by Jaiprakash Associates in India.

Italian cement maker Italcementi and UltraTech, India’s biggest cement maker and part of the diversified Aditya Birla Group, are also in the race to buy the Jaiprakash cement plants, a source said. However, Italcementi yesterday denied it was in talks to buy the manufacturing facilities.

Jaiprakash plans to raise up to $1.6 billion (€1.3 billion) from the sale of the two cement plants in the western Gujarat and southern Andhra Pradesh states to help pay down part of its $8 billion debt.

The company, which has interests in cement, construction, real estate and hospitality, is seeking about $150 million (€121 million) per tonne for the two plants that have a combined capacity of almost 10 million tonnes, sources said.

Jaiprakash’s $355 million worth of dollar bonds are due on September 12th, and the company will have to redeem or restructure them since the price at which the bonds can be converted into equity is sharply higher than the current value.

CRH, which has a 50 per cent stake in another cement plant in Andhra Pradesh, is looking to buy both, the source said.

Last month, the company said it spent €250 million in the first half of the year on 18 acquisition and investment initiatives. – (Reuters)