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Nirma Group Cement Company Nuvoco Vistas Files For Rs 5,000-Crore IPO

Proceeds of the IPO will be used to repay debt and for general corporate purposes.

A worker unloads a sack of cement from a freight train in Mumbai, India (Photographer: Kuni Takahashi/Bloomberg)  
A worker unloads a sack of cement from a freight train in Mumbai, India (Photographer: Kuni Takahashi/Bloomberg)  

Nuvoco Vistas Corporation Ltd., a Nirma Group-backed company, has filed for a Rs 5,000-crore initial public offering. The company will do a fresh issue of equity shares of up to Rs 1,500 crore and its promoter will sell shares of up to Rs 3,500 crore via an offer for sale, it said in a media statement.

The IPO proceeds will be used to repay debt worth Rs 1,350 crore and for general corporate purposes.

Nuvoco Vistas is India’s fifth-largest cement maker by manufacturing capacity, according to its statement. It has 11 units across east and north India with an installed capacity of 22.32 million metric tonnes per annum.

The company commenced operations in 1999 with the acquisition of the cement business of Tata Steel Ltd. (then known as TISCO). It was then the India subsidiary of global cement giant Lafarge. Much of its capacity has been built via acquisitions—between 2001 and 2010 it bought the cement business of Raymond Ltd. and the ready-mix concrete business of Larsen & Toubro Ltd. In 2016, the company was acquired by Nirma Ltd. and subsequently renamed Nuvoco Vistas. Last year, it bought the Emami Group’s cement business, with 8.3 million tonnes per annum capacity.

In the six months ended September 2020, the company’s revenue was Rs 2,223 crore versus Rs 3,414 crore in the same period in 2019 and it made a loss of Rs 58 crore versus a profit of Rs 146 crore in April - September 2019. This as per unaudited financial statements on its website.