CRH Cements company is to buy Sree Jayajothi Cements (SJJC) from the diversified Shriram Group for Rs 1,400 crore. CRH is an Irish building materials giant. Through its equal joint venture, My Home Industries, CRH has been operating in India since 2008, when it acquired the 50 per cent stake. Currently CRH has three manufacturing units in Andhra Pradesh that produces 3.2 million tonne of cement per annum.    

The company has also set up a 1.5 million tonne grinding capacity. This acquisition will help CRH further scale up its India operations, especially in Andhra Pradesh. Set up in 2006, SJJC has a 2.3 million tonne/annum cement plant which includes a 1.9 million tonne clinker facility in Kurnool district.    

The listed engineering and construction arm of the $8 billion Shriram Group, Shriram EPC took a controlling stake in SJJC last February after the original promoter T.R. Kannan failed to repay Rs 563-crore dues to the engineering contractor which was a vendor to the company. The take-over by Shriram EPC was a fairly unusual event.