Adani group acquires Holcim AG’s cement businesses for $10.5 billion

Top of the Morning

In this episode, find out why Tech Mahindra thinks positive momentum will continue in FY23, also find out about Maruti Suzuki’s plan to invest Rs 11,000 crore in a new plant in Haryana.

Business Term of the Day: Bear market

India’s Adani Group acquired a controlling stake in Holcim AG’s cement businesses in India in a $10.5 billion deal to become the second-biggest cement producer in the country, Adani Group. Asia’s richest person Gautam Adani‘s conglomerate acquired 63.19% of Ambuja Cements Ltd and its subsidiary ACC in fierce bidding with local companies.

 AMG Media Networks, a unit of billionaire Gautam Adani’s conglomerate Adani Enterprises, will pick a 49 per cent stake in Raghav Bahl-curated digital business news platform Quintillion Business Media Pvt Ltd for an undisclosed sum.

State Bank of India: The country’s largest lender reported a 41.28 per cent rise in standalone profit after tax at Rs 9,114 crore for the quarter ended March 2022, driven by healthy interest income and better asset quality. Its standalone profit after tax (PAT) stood at Rs 6,451 crore in the fourth quarter of the previous fiscal.

Tech Mahindra: The IT services major reported a 39 per cent jump in its consolidated net profit for March 2022 quarter at Rs 1,678.4 crore, and exuded confidence that the positive business momentum will continue in the current fiscal. On a standalone basis, the Mahindra group company reported a post-tax profit at Rs 1,505 crore in the quarter under review as against Rs 1,081 crore a year ago.

Maruti Suzuki plans Rs 11,000 crore first phase investment for new plant. Maruti Suzuki India completed the process of allotment of an 800 acre site in Haryana for its proposed plant, according to a statement on exchanges. It plans investment of more than Rs 11,000 crore in the first phase. The first plant with a manufacturing capacity of 2.5 lakh vehicles a year is expected to be commissioned by 2025. The site will have space for capacity expansion to include more manufacturing plants.

 

Moving on to markets

The Sensex and Nifty are likely to start Monday’s trade on a muted note as SGX Nifty futures erased gains tracking lower US equity futures.

SGX Nifty futures were quoting at 15,810 levels, indicating a likely opening gain of 20-30 points for the Nifty benchmark.

Macroeconomic data from the US, UK and back home will be in focus this week, along with the last leg of fourth-quarter earnings.

US retail sales and housing data and the UK’s inflation numbers for April will be announced later in the week.

Back home, the wholesale price index (WPI) reading for April will be closely monitored on Tuesday, after retail inflation for the month came to an eight-year high of 7.8 per cent.

Business Term of the day

A bear market is when a market experiences prolonged price declines. It typically describes a condition in which securities prices fall 20% or more from recent highs amid widespread pessimism and negative investor sentiment. Short selling, put options, and inverse ETFs are some of the ways in which investors can make money during a bear market as prices fall.