Reliance Infrastructure to sell cement arm to Birla for $710 million

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Reliance Infrastructure Ltd said on Thursday it has agreed to sell its cement business to Birla Corporation Ltd for 48 billion rupees ($710 million), as part of its efforts to reduce debt.

Reliance Infrastructure is an affiliate of billionaire Anil Ambani's Reliance Group conglomerate.

Reliance Infrastructure's cement arm has three plants with total installed production capacity of 5.6 million tonnes per annum (MTPA). Another 5 MTPA plant is under construction in western Maharashtra state, according to its website.

Meanwhile Birla Corp said on Tuesday it planned to take legal action against the Indian subsidiary of LafargeHolcim after a deal fell through to buy some of the Franco-Swiss group's local assets.

In April last year LafargeHolcim agreed to sell two of its Indian plants to win local regulatory approvals for the merger of Lafarge and Holcim.

($1 = 67.6477 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Greg Mahlich)