Gautham Adani-led Adani group is in discussions to buy the cement businesses of debt-laden Jaypee Group for about Rs 5,000 crore.  This would help the conglomerate run by Asia's richest person strengthen its position in a sector it just started working in a few weeks ago.

Sources say that Adani group is in advanced talks with the management of Jaiprakash Associates and that the deal could be announced soon. Neither the Adani group nor the Jaypee group would say anything. With the purchase of Ambuja Cements and ACC Ltd, the ports-to-energy conglomerate recently got into the cement business. It is now the second-largest cement maker in the country, with an annual production capacity of 67.5 million tonnes.

The cement business of Jaypee group was sold to UltraTech, but a few units were still housed in group firms. On Monday, the boards of Jaiprakash Associates Ltd and Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd agreed to sell off their cement business and some non-core assets in order to pay down debt. If the deal goes through, the Jaypee group would give Adani almost 10 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of capacity.

Gautam Adani, the chairman and managing director of his company, said last month that he wanted to double the amount of cement his company could make to 140 million tonnes per year by 2030. UltraTech, which makes more cement than any other company in the country, has a production capacity of 119.95 MTPA and plans to increase it to 159.25 MPTA.

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