Adani Ports & SEZ acquires Karaikal Port for Rs 1,485 cr

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ), a major transport utility, has completed the acquisition of Karaikal Port Private Limited (KPPL) following the approval of the National Company Law Tribunal, Chennai Bench. Earlier, APSEZ was declared as the successful resolution applicant under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) of KPPL. With this acquisition worth Rs 1,485 crore, APSEZ now operates 14 ports in India. In March 2023, US Global equity firm, GQG Partners completed a Rs 15,446 crore (USD 1.87 billion)investment in various Adani companies including APSEZ.

Karaikal Port is an all-weather deep-water port on India’s eastern coast that was developed on the build, operate and transfer format under the public-private partnership by the Government of Puducherry. Commissioned in 2009 and developed in the Karaikal district of the UT, around 300 km south of Chennai, it is the only major port between Chennai and Tuticorin, and its strategic location allows the port easy access to industrially rich hinterland of central Tamil Nadu. As the largest commercial ports operator in India accounting for nearly one-fourth of the cargo movement in the country, APSEZ has presence in domestic ports across seven maritime states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Odisha with deepened hinterland connectivity. Through its subsidiary, Adani Logistics, APSEZ also operates three logistics parks in Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan.

Karan Adani, CEO and whole-time director, APSEZ considers the acquisition as another step in consolidating the company’s position as India’s largest transport utility. The company will spend further Rs 850 crore 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 5 years and also add container terminal to make it a multipurpose port,” the CEO said.

The port gets a 14-meter water draft and has land area of over 600 acres. Its existing infrastructure includes 5 operational berths, 3 railway sidings, mechanized bulk cargo handling system including mechanized wagon-loading and truck-loading systems, 2 mobile harbour cranes and a large cargo storage space that includes open yards, 10 covered warehouses and 4 liquid storage tanks. With a built-in cargo handling capacity of 21.5 MMT, the port primarily handles, cement, fertilizer, limestone, steel and liquids. The upcoming CPCL’s 9 MMTPA new refinery at Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu presents an opportunity for Karaikal Port to handle an additional large volume of liquid cargo.