New Delhi: Employees at the Adani-owned ACC and Ambuja Cement have reportedly found themselves confused and worried as the companies’ owner decided to move several key roles to Ahmedabad.
According to The Hindu Business Line, both companies – which the Gautam Adani-led conglomerate bought last year – are headquartered in Mumbai. But ever since they were purchased, the focus has been shifting to Gujarat. “For instance, Ajay Kapur, Chief Executive Officer of the Cement Business of Adani Group, operates out of Ahmedabad, while other leadership roles, including the heads of divisions such as procurement, supply chain, health and safety have also been shifted out of Mumbai,” the newspaper reported.
This is creating a situation where employees reporting to the division heads are having to either relocate or go back and forth between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, which is not easy for those who have other responsibilities as well (such as familial ones). Many, therefore, are on the lookout for other opportunities.
“The two companies between them have an employee base of over 10,000 and Mumbai, being the headquarters, has a significant number of them. At the end of FY22, ACC had over 6,000 permanent employees on its rolls of which the management staff is about 60 percent, while the remaining staff were shop floor workers, deployed at its various plants and sites. Ambuja Cements has 4,700-odd employees with roughly 70 percent of them in the management cadre,” the newspaper stated.
When asked about this move, an Adani Group spokesperson said, “We do not comment on our employee related matters.”
The Group had last year acquired Swiss-based Holcim’s cement businesses in India – Ambuja Cements and ACC Ltd – for $10.5 billion (around Rs 85,000 crore). This was the conglomerate’s largest-ever acquisition, and per the company at the time, it was India’s largest ever M&A transaction in the infrastructure and material space.
The shift to Gujarat is not the only worry for ACC and Ambuja Cement employees. Earlier this week, it was reported that the Adani Group is seeking more time to repay debts related to Ambuja Cements and ACC. Reports said the Group is seeking to renegotiate the terms of the outstanding loans which are worth $4 billion. The huge debt has led to a fear of job cuts within the company, The Hindu Business Line reported.
The entire Adani Group has been mired in controversy ever since the US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research published a report on January 14, accusing the group of large-scale accounting fraud and stock manipulation. The Group has denied any wrongdoing.
Hindenburg Research’s main charge is that it has traced entities in tax havens, “which held huge stakes in listed Adani firms, and were related to Gautam Adani’s brother, Vinod.” But as “these facts were not disclosed. In effect, the promoters’ stakes in several listed firms exceeded the legal limit of 75%.” If investigations find that these entities are related to Adani, it could spell trouble for the Adani group.
Earlier, The Morning Context had reported that ACC and Ambuja Cement are owned by entities that are controlled by Vinod Adani.