Orient Cement drops plan to set up grinding unit with Adani Power.

Orient Cement, part of CK Birla Group, has terminated a proposal with Adani Power Maharashtra to set up a grinding unit.

Both companies had signed a non-binding MoU in September 2021 for “facilitating bona fide use of land” identified for establishing a cement grinding unit in Maharashtra’s Tiroda.

In a stock exchange notice on Wednesday, Oriented Cement said the MoU with Adani Power Maharashtra, for the setting up of a cement grinding unit in Maharashtra, stands “terminated”.

Orient Cement said APML has requested it not to pursue the venture further as “they are not able to obtain the required MIDC clearances for sub-leasing the parcel of land required for the cement grinding unit, due to some legal issues”. Also, “the timelines as agreed upon as per MoU have crossed”, it added.

“The company has accepted the position of APML and accordingly, the said non-binding MoU stands terminated,” the cement maker said.

Hit by the short seller Hindenburg Research report, the listed entities of Adani Group companies have shed over ₹10 lakh crore in market cap in last few months.

The Orient Cement announcement to terminate MoU, comes days after Adani Power called off the acquisition of DB Power six months after announcing that it would acquire the Chhattisgarh-based power company for ₹7,000 crore.

HBL