Case Name :      Ambuja Cements and Holcim India Merger

Authors :           Pitabas Mohanty, Tina Stephen, Supriti Mishra

Source :              Ivey Publishing

Case ID :           9B16N056 / W16572

Discipline :        Finance

Case Length :    11 pages

Plagiarism : NO (100% Original work)

On July 24, 2013, the management of Ambuja Cements Limited announced the merger of Holcim (India) Private Limited with Ambuja Cements in a two-stage process. First, Ambuja Cements would buy a 24 per cent stake of Holcim (India) from Holderind Investments Ltd. of Mauritius for ₹35 billion. Subsequently, Holcim (India) would be merged with Ambuja Cements. The management of Ambuja Cements projected huge synergy from the merger, whereas proxy firm advisors called it corporate misgovernance. The case gives students an opportunity to analyze this two-step transaction to determine whether it compromised the interests of minority shareholders. The case also presents an opportunity to estimate the marginal impact of the transfer of cash and the cancellation of shares on the stock price of the acquiring company.