Adani Ports acquire 25% of Vishwasamudra Holdings' stake in Krishnapatnam Port

Private sector ports and logistics company Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. (APSEZ) is acquiring the residual 25 per cent stake in Adani Krishnapatnam Port Ltd., (Krishnapatnam Port) for Rs 2,800 crore.

With this, APSEZ will increase its stake from 75 per cent to 100 per cent in Krishnapatnam Port, the country's second largest private sector port. The acquisition will be completed by buying 25 per cent from Vishwa Samudra Holdings.

Together with the 75 per cent 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 located on the east coast of India in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh (180 km from Chennai Ports) close to the border between Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. It is an all-weather, deep water port and has a multi-cargo facility with a current capacity of 64 MMTPA. With a waterfront of 20 km and 6,800 acres of land, Krishnapatnam Port has a master plan capacity of 300 MMTPA and a 50-year concession.

The port is expected to have volumes of 38 MMT, revenues of Rs 1,840 crore and EBITDA of Rs 1,325 in FY21. Since the acquisition, Krishnapatnam Port has focused on business process re-engineering which has resulted in EBITDA margins improving from 57 per cent in FY20 to 72 per cent in FY21.

Karan Adani, Chief Executive Officer and Whole Time Director of APSEZ said, "The consolidation of our ownership in Krishnapatnam Port reinforces APSEZ's stride towards 500 MMT by 2025 and achieving our broader strategy of cargo parity between west and east coasts of India. Krishnapatnam Port is on track to handle double the traffic by 2025 and will deliver high growth through a multi-product and cargo enhancement strategy while enhancing return on capital employed."

"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. With its large industrial land backed with the port we will transform Krishnapatnam into a manufacturing and industrial hub."

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd., a part of Adani Group has evolved from a port company to Ports & Logistics Platform for India. It is the largest port developer and operator in India with 12 strategically located ports and terminals -- Mundra, Dahej, Tuna and Hazira in Gujarat, Dhamra in Odisha, Mormugao in Goa, Visakhapatnam and Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Dighi in Maharashtra and and Kattupalli and Ennore in Chennai- representing 24 per cent of the country's total port capacity. The company is also developing a transhipment port at Vizhinjam, Kerala.