Billionaires: Kumar Mangalam Birla buys $226m stake in India Cements to thwart Adani

In our round-up of the world’s ultra-wealthy, Rupert Murdoch takes $10 million off New York City penthouse’s asking price and LVMH chief Bernard Arnault buys stake in luxury rival Richemont

Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of Aditya Birla Group, is seeking to counter Adani Group’s buying spree amid an intensifying battle to dominate India’s cement sector. EPA

Indian billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla’s UltraTech Cement will acquire a 23 per cent stake in India Cements for about $226 million, as the conglomerate looks to counter Adani Group’s buying spree amid an intensifying battle to dominate India’s cement sector.

Sector leader UltraTech will pay as much as 267 Indian rupees ($3.19) a share to purchase 70.6 million shares of the Chennai-based India Cements, the Birla group company said in an exchange filing on Thursday.

“This non-controlling financial investment constitutes around 23 per cent” stake in the cement maker, the filing added.

The transaction will make the Aditya Birla Group the second-largest shareholder in India Cements, trailing only the founders, who own 28.5 per cent.

The stake gives UltraTech a solid foothold in a cement maker that’s already a sizeable player in southern India – a geography where Gautam Adani’s conglomerate recently expanded its presence.

Mr Adani’s Ambuja Cements announced the acquisition of Penna Cement Industries in a $1.2 billion deal earlier this month.

ICRA, the local arm of Moody’s, said that it “expects M&A deals to continue, given the aggressive growth plans of the large incumbent players who want to maintain their market share”.

An asset block of 28 million tonnes is in the pipeline for acquisition in India, the note added.

Adani Group became India’s second-largest cement maker in 2022 after buying Ambuja and ACC and has continued buying smaller firms since.

UltraTech, the country's biggest cement maker, has an annual capacity of 152.7 million tonnes and is aiming for 200 million tonnes by March 2027.

Adani Group, on the other hand, has a capacity of 89 million tonnes and is targeting 140 million tonnes by 2028.

Cement is a crucial raw material in all infrastructure projects, making it a key resource for achieving Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal to modernise the world’s most populous country and meet the growing demand for homes.

In April, UltraTech said it would buy India Cements’ grinding unit for 3.15 billion rupees.

Mr Birla is also investing $50 million to build a new chemical plant in Beaumont, Texas, the heart of the US oil-refining region, as his conglomerate expands its North American footprint.

The project will involve a “state-of-the-art advanced materials site” spread across 35 acres in Beaumont. Texas is home to some of the country’s biggest refineries and petrochemical complexes.

The plant will house research-and-development complexes and produce epoxies.

Aditya Birla Group claims it is the largest Indian investor in the US, with more than $15 billion in assets in the country.

Rupert Murdoch purchased a triplex penthouse in Manhattan’s Flatiron neighbourhood for $57.9 million a decade ago. AFP

Rupert Murdoch

Rupert Murdoch’s triplex penthouse in New York City has lowered its asking price yet again.

After listing for $62 million in 2022, the roughly 7,000-square-foot apartment in Manhattan’s Flatiron neighbourhood has been on and off the market with increasingly diminishing price tags.

It was offered in April for $38.5 million. Now, the News Corp chairman emeritus has lopped off another $10 million – with its $28.5 million price now less than half of the initial ask.

“My client is a realist, and he is very astute about how markets function,” said Kyle Blackmon, the head of luxury sales at Compass, who represents the property.

Of the most recent drop, he said: “We ultimately believe that such a significant reduction – 26 per cent – increases the probability of competitive bidding.”

The apartment has been toured by what Mr Blackmon claimed are 12 qualified buyers in the last two months, “five of which are billionaires”.

“We have a number of those qualified purchasers circling the property.”

The penthouse spans the building’s 58th, 59th and 60th floors, and has five bedrooms and 6.5 baths. There’s a private, internal lift, along with a circular staircase.

A decade ago, Mr Murdoch reportedly paid about $57.9 million for the apartment, along with a smaller 3,300-square-foot unit in the same building.

World's top luxury group LVMH head Bernard Arnault is Europe's richest man. AFP

Bernard Arnault

French billionaire Bernard Arnault, Europe's richest man and the chairman of LVMH, has bought a stake in smaller luxury rival Richemont, Bloomberg reported.

The exact size of the shareholding in the owner of Cartier jewellery is unclear.

The report said the investment was small and part of a broader Arnault family-owned portfolio of investments in publicly listed companies.

Paris-based LVMH, whose brands include Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior fashion houses and watchmakers Hublot and Tag Heuer, has previously bought stakes in rivals.

The world's biggest luxury company in 2010 revealed it had amassed a stake in Birkin bag maker Hermes.

Hermes' family owners reacted by binding their holdings, and LVMH eventually relinquished its stake in 2014.

Richemont could also prove a hard target to take over, if that is Mr Arnault's intention.

The company, which also owns Swiss watchmakers IWC, Piaget and Jaeger-LeCoultre, is controlled by chairman Johan Rupert through a combination of two categories of shares that give him 51 per cent of the voting rights.

Kepler Cheuvreux analyst Jon Cox noted Mr Arnault's admiration of Richemont's jewellery businesses.

“Arnault has made no secret that he thinks Richemont’s Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels are two world-class brands and I am sure LVMH is interested and has the financial resources to do a deal,” Mr Cox said.

“However, Richemont's Johann Rupert has repeatedly said the company is not for sale and he has no interest in any sort of tie-up.”

Mr Arnault has been on a charm offensive, saying in January that Mr Rupert was an “outstanding leader” and that he did not want to “upset his strategy”.

He said: “I understand he wants to remain independent. I find that very good. If he wants support to maintain his independence, I'll be there.”

Last month, Richemont unveiled a management overhaul, promoting Nicolas Bos, the head of its Van Cleef & Arpels jewellery brand, to become group chief executive.

Still, Mr Rupert said he was not reducing his role in the company he created.

With inputs from Bloomberg and Reuters