Binani Cement to expand capacity to 12 Mt by 2011-12

Kolkata, May 5 (UNI) Binani Cement, a subsidiary of Binani Industries Ltd (BIL) will expand its capacity to 12 Million Tonnes per annum within 2011-12 and set up new cement factories in Gujarat and another eastern state.

Speaking at a press conference here today, Binani Executive Director D Sundararajan said, ''We have selected a location in coastal Gujarat for our new plant. In eastern India, the best possible location should be rich in limestone reserves. In that perspective Bengal and Bihar can be ruled out. Therefore our most probable destination can be Orissa, Jharkhand or Chhattisgarh.'' However, the company has not yet finalised the location of the plant in the east.

Elaborating on the company's expansion programme in its Rajasthan plant, which was completed recently and would start production from this month, Mr Sundararajan said, ''We have raised the total production capacity of the cement plant at Sirohi from 2.25 MT to 5.3 MT this year. We are adding another 22.3 MW of power in the captive power plant, which has the existing capacity of 25 MW. The company has increased the clinker capacity at its plant by 2.3 MTPA.

The company manufactures OPC, PPC and OPC:PPC product mix.

The company has key markets in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi. The company's 45 per cent sales is in Rajasthan.

The company is entering capital markets with a public offer of 20,500,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each, through an offer of sale by J P Morgan Special Situations(Mauritius) Ltd. The offer would be through 100 per cent book building process. The price band for the offer has been fixed between Rs 75 and Rs 85 per equity share. The public offer opens on May 7, 2007 and closes for subscription on May 10, 2007.

UNI