In a board reshuffle on Friday following the completion of the acquisition of Switzerland-based building materials conglomerate Holcim’s India assets, Ambuja Cements and ACC, Gautam Adani was appointed chairman of Ambuja Cements while his elder son Karan was named a director of both cement firms and as chairman of ACC.
For Karan, this would be additional responsibilities, as the 35-year-old is also the chief executive officer of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone.
Adani Group also named new independent directors on the boards of the two firms. These included former State Bank of India (SBI) chairman Rajnish Kumar on the Ambuja Cement board and former Shell India head Nitin Shukla on the ACC board.
The conglomerate also named Ajay Kumar as the new CEO of Ambuja Cement in place of Neeraj Akhoury and Sridhar Balakrishnan for ACC. ACC also appointed Vinod Bahety as chief financial officer.
The acquisition of Holcim’s India assets, announced on May 15, also marked Adani Group’s foray into cement business — immediately propelling it to the second slot — with a total production capacity of 67.5 million tonne per annum (MTPA).
Separately, Ambuja Cements will raise up to Rs 20,001 crore by way of preferential allotment of warrants to Harmonia Trade and Investment, an Adani family firm. FE