Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro has sold its entire remaining stake of 11.49 per cent in UltraTech Cement for an estimated Rs1,035.70 crore, to exit cement business.

L&T sold 1,43,03,294 shares (comprising 11.49 per cent stake in Ultratech) to a clutch of institutional investors, through an open market transaction,  the company said in a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

L&T's holding of 1,43,03,294 shares in UltraTech is worth around Rs1,091 crore at Wednesday's closing price of Rs763 a share.

Citigroup, managers to the sale, arranged the sale to a clutch of institutional investors after Grasim, which has right of first refusal, declined to pick up the stake.

The Aditya Birla Group, which owns Grasim, is the 11th largest cement producer in the world and the seventh largest in Asia. Incorporated on 24 August 2000 as L&T Cement Limited, UltraTech was demerged from L&T and sold to Grasim in July 2004.

The demerged company was renamed UltraTech on 14 October 2004. In May 2006, Narmada Cement Company Limited was amalgamated with UltraTech.
 
UltraTech Cement, which has an annual capacity of 18.2 million tonnes,  manufactures and markets ordinary portland cement, portland blast furnace slag cement and portland pozzalana cement. It also manufactures ready mix concrete (RMC).

The company has five integrated plants, six grinding units and three terminals - two in India and one in Sri Lanka.

UltraTech Cement is the country's largest exporter of cement clinker. The export markets span countries around the Indian Ocean, Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

UltraTech has two subsidiaries - Dakshin Cement Limited and UltraTech Ceylinco (P) Ltd.

Shares of UltraTech Cement reacted negatively to the sale, falling over 5 per cent from the previous close to Rs724 in the morning trade on the BSE.

L&T shares also were volatile in the early trade, slipping 2.79 per cent to a low of Rs1,588.15 in early morning trade.