French cement maker, Vicat has made announcement that the company has entered into a joint venture agreement with Sagar Cements to build a $625 million cement plant at Gulbarga in the Indian state of Karnataka.

In the joint venture named Vicat Sagar, Vicat will hold 51 percent shares, and Sagar Cmenets will hold 49 percent.
Further, Viscat will also acquire 6.6 percent stake in Sagar Cements.

While lecturing on the deal, Dr Anand Reddy, joint managing director of Sagar Cements said, “this transaction gives us the opportunity to expand our scale and size and consequently strengthen our competitive position. We also look forward to leverage on Vicat's high degree of experience and expertise in fields like waste fue; and product development.”

The Gulbarga plant, to be built on a greenfield site, will produce 5.5 million tonnes of cement per annum on two clinker production lines, each with a daily capacity of 6,000 tonnes. In addition, it will have its own 60 megawatts thermal power plant.

Vicat Group has operations in nine countries including North America, Europe, Middle East and Asia.