(FE)
Kumar Mangalam Birla is shifting gears. The business tycoon has been feverishly tidying up his cement-to-textiles empire, based around the flagship Aditya Birla Group. Now a $2.5 billion bid from affiliate Hindalco for U.S. aluminium products-maker Aleris, as reported by Bloomberg, suggests growth is back on the agenda. Birla has been busy. Last year he agreed to merge his local telecoms operator, Idea Cellular, with Vodafone India after Mukesh Ambani’s Jio upended the market, and also completed the complex merger of two holding companies.
Now Hindalco, his separately listed $10 billion metals giant, is on the prowl, as one of several mooted bidders for Aleris. Private equity-owned Aleris is back on the block after U.S. officials raised national-security concerns about a $2.3 billion sale to the Chinese-backed Zhongwang USA. By contrast, Indian bidders carry less stigma thanks to New Delhi’s relatively lower barriers to inward investment, and because there is less controversy about Indian manufacturers “dumping” cheap products abroad.
