Adani Ports completes acquisition of Karaikal Port

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) on Saturday said it has completed the acquisition of Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd (KPPL) pursuant to National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approval.

Earlier, APSEZ was declared a successful resolution applicant under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) of KPPL.

Karaikal Port is an all-weather deep-water port in Puducherry with five operational berths, three railway sidings, total land area of over 600 hectares and a built-in cargo handling capacity of 21.5 MMT.

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"Acquisition consideration of Rs 1,485 crores implies an EV/EBITDA multiple of 8x on the FY23 estimated numbers," APSEZ said in a statement.

According to the statement, the port is in proximity to the containerized cargo-originating industrial centres of Tamil Nadu, and the upcoming 9 MMTPA CPCL refinery.

APSEZ CEO and whole-time director Karan Adani said, "With the acquisition of Karaikal port APSEZ now operates 14 ports in India. APSEZ will spend further Rs 850 crores over time to upgrade infrastructure in order to reduce the logistics cost for the customers.

"We are envisaging to double the capacity of the port in the next five years and also add a container terminal to make it a multipurpose port," he added.

The Karaikal Port was commissioned in 2009 and was developed in the Karaikal District of the Union Territory of Puducherry, around 300 km south of Chennai.

It is the only major port between Chennai & Tuticorin, and its strategic location allows the port easy access to the industrial-rich hinterland of Central Tamil Nadu.

The port gets a 14-meter water draft and has a land area of over 600 acres.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones, the flagship transportation arm of the diversified Adani group, is India's largest private ports and logistics company.