Adani Ports buys residual 25% stake in Krishnapatnam Port

By Swet Sarika

  • 05 Apr 2021
Credit: Pexels

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone has bought rest 25% stake in Adani Krishnapatnam Port from Vishwa Samudra Holdings for Rs 2,800 crore.

A statement said that, together with the 75% ownership acquired in October 2020, the acquisition implies an enterprise value of Rs 13,675 crore implying an EV/FY21 Ebitda multiple of 10.3x.

Krishnapatnam Port is an all-weather, deep water port with a current capacity of 64 million tonne per annum (mtpa). With a waterfront of 20 km and 6,800 acres of land, it has a master plan capacity of 300 mtpa and a 50-year concession.

Krishnapatnam Port is located on the east coast of India in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh close to the border between Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The investment is in line with the company’s strategy to increase its footprint in Andhra Pradesh.

“Krishnapatnam Port is on track to handle double the traffic by 2025,” said Karan Adani, chief executive officer and whole time director, Adani Ports.

“We are confident that we will be able to double throughput and triple Ebitda at Krishnapatnam Port by 2025. We are committed to making Krishnapatnam Port the gateway port for South Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka,” he said.

Adani Ports has 12 ports and terminals representing 24% of the country's total port capacity.

The company is also developing a transhipment port at Vizhinjam, Kerala.

Adani Ports has been consolidating its position in the space through acquisitions. 

In 2020, it announced its decision to acquire a 75% stake in Andhra Pradesh-based Krishnapatnam Port for an enterprise value of Rs 13,572 crore ($1.9 billion).

Recently, it completed the acquisition of Dighi Port for a consideration of Rs 650 crore under the bankruptcy law.

The company has also signed a deal to get funding from Warburg Pincus, which will invest Rs 800 crore (about $110 million) for a 0.49% stake.

With the investment, Warburg will join others in backing the company such as LIC, Temasek, Fidelity, GIC and Norges.

Adani Ports had acquired Dhamra Port in Odisha in 2014 and Kattupalli Port in Tamil Nadu in 2018.