The decision to review its investments, which was cleared by the company'sboard on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Tarun Das, comes in the wake ofa lacklustre performance for the financial year in which it posted a loss ofRs 58.85 crore.

The move is also significant, as it comes at a time when Gujarat AmbujaCements is firmly in the co-promoter's saddle with an 11 per cent stake inthe company.

ACC managing director TMM Nambiar told The Financial Express: "Wehave decided to take a re-look into each of our non-core businesses. Theboard will take a decision as and when it thinks fit.

"The country's largest cement-maker has, over the years, diversified intosophisticated areas like advanced materials taking a cue from many of itsglobal peers. ACC has also pumped money into the equity of a large number ofcompanies, including Bridgestone ACC India, Floatglass India, Alcoa ACC andACC Rio Tinto. The company, which was till recently a Tata group company,also has large equity exposures in many of the erstwhile group companies.With the change in promoter's shareholding, the ACC top brass has nowdecided to unlock these investments. "Cement is a very capital-intensivebusiness and ACC will greatly benefit if the funds are ploughed back intoits core business of cement," said a company official.As on March 31, 1999,the trade investments of the company stood at Rs 77.99 crore, while itsinvestment in subsidiary companies aggregated to Rs 51.33 crore. Totalinvestments of the company stood at a sizeable Rs 146.72 crore.

Analysts say that unlike many of its investments, the company's equity stakein joint venture company Bridgestone ACC may fetch handsome dividends.During 1998-99, the company's investment in the tyre maker aggregated to Rs26.14 crore.

"We will review our investment in the various companies as we move along. Itis, however, difficult to make an assessment as how much funds will begenerated through the divestment exercise," Nambiar said.

The ACC managing director blamed the prevailing low cement prices for itslacklustre performance last fiscal. "The results were not satisfactorybecause of the soft prices which prevailed throughout last year. Things lookno better even during the first quarter of this fiscal. We are, however,hopeful that the realisations will improve in the coming months," Nambiarsaid.