It is well known fact that Kumar Birla has Global Ambitions to be amongst the top 5 in Global Commodities market. He has almost won the battle in Aluminum and is now fighting in his father's creations of VSF and Cement.
The AV Birla group has announced plans for greenfield VSF capacity in Turkey. In cement there is speculation that the group is evaluating Lafarge’s South African business.
We think it is likely that Grasim may part-fund the AV Birla group’s VSF foray in Turkey but a cement transaction in South Africa seems unlikely at least unless valuation expectations ease. Assuming that funding pattern for the Turkey VSF unit is similar to the group’s recent Domsjo acquisition we expect that cash outgo from Grasim will not be significant.
