Shree Cement Ltd announced on Thursday that it had agreed to acquire a 92.83 per cent stake in Union Cement Co PSC, for an enterprise value of US$305.24m, according to the Hindustan Times. The deal will increase Shree Cement’s capacity to 33.3Mta from 29.3Mta, and is expected to be concluded within nine months. 

Shree Cement has the option to take full control of the company’s shares, said Subhash Jajoo, CFO, Shree Cement.

Union Cement is based in the UAE and has a total capacity of 4Mta. The company’s plant is situated by Saqr port, and therefore exports half of its output to east Africa and other countries located within the Persian Gulf.

Alongside this, Shree Cement has reported its unaudited financial results for the final quarter of 2017, ended 31 December. The company saw a 41.58 per cent YoY increase in net profit, to INR3.33bn (US$52.43m) from INR2.35bn. The total revenue for the 4Q17 also rose by seven per cent to INR23.83bn (4Q16: INR22.26bn).

The total expenses of the company for the fourth quarter of 2017 decreased to INR19.57bn, falling from INR19.80bn seen in the year-ago period.