Cementing gains: Birla Corp stock soars 18% as co plans to acquire Lafarge's two cement units

Shrugging off the weak broad market sentiment, shares of Birla Corporation continued to maintian bullish stance on the bourses, after the company earlier said it will acquire two cement units from Lafarge India for Rs 5,000 crore. Investors cheered the development helping the stock scale a high of Rs 534.90, up 18 percent from its previous close. [caption id=“attachment_2395714” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] At 2.50 pm, Birla Corp shares were traded at Rs 528, up 16.6 percent on volumes of 63,000 shares traded as against two-week average volume of 7,100 shares. Strong gains in the counter come at a time when the benchmark Sensex continue to linger in negative territory, with the index falling 180 points at 27,887.18. As per the announcement, Birla Corp said it will acquire two cement units from Lafarge India having a capacity of 5.15 million tonnes per annum. Birla said it will acquire the cement business, comprising an integrated cement unit at Sonadih (Chhattisgarh), a cement grinding unit at Jojobera (Jharkhand), along with Concreto and PSC brands. The company said that upon completion of this transaction, Birla Corporation will consolidate its position in the eastern India cement market, where the demand supply scenario and outlook continue to remain buoyant, a PTI report said. The company said the transaction will be funded through exiting cash reserves and incremental debt, and is subject to approval of Competition Commission of India and other regulatory approvals.