Billionaire Gautam Adani's group has pledged his entire equity stake in ACC and Ambuja Cement -- worth $12.5 billion -- to foreign banks to fund the $6.5 billion acquisition of two cement makers from its Swiss parent company Holcim. Under this agreement, Adani would not be able to offload the shares until the lenders' debt gets cleared. Adani Group currently owns around 63 per cent of Ambuja Cement and 57 per cent of ACC.
The group's companies have been in focus for quite some time due to several reasons, such as a meteoric rise in market valuation over the last couple of years, the acquisition of several companies and most recently, achieving the status of the world's second richest person. Adani's move into cement and the recent easing of commodity prices has led to a rally in cement stocks in India. ACC and Ambuja shares have surged 29% and 60% since Holcim's sale was announced in May.