VIJAYAWADA: Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ), the country’s largest private ports and logistics company and the flagship transportation arm of Adani Group, concluded the acquisition of State government’s 10.4 per cent stake in Gangavaram Port Ltd (GPL) with Rs 645 crore.
APSEZ and GPL boards have also approved the merger of GPL with APSEZ, taking into consideration GPL’s valuation of Rs 120 per share and fair value of APSEZ at Rs 754.8 per share, resulting in a swap ratio of 159 shares in APSEZ for 1,000 shares in GPL for 58.1 per cent stake held by DVS Raju and Family in the GPL.The merger, which has an appointed date of April 1, 2021 and is subject to NCLT approval, is expected to conclude by March 31, 2022.
Earlier, in April 2021, APSEZ had acquired 31.5 per cent from Windy Lakeside Investment Ltd, a Warburg Pincus affiliate, and had signed an agreement for controlling 58.1 per cent stake held by DVS Raju and Family. Post the merger of GPL and APSEZ, DVS Raju and Family will receive approximately 4.8 crore shares, a release said.
GPL is a 64 MMT capacity non-major port established under concession from the State government that extends till 2059 and is the gateway port for a hinterland spread over eight states across Eastern, Western, Southern and Central India. “This acquisition significantly expands APSEZ’s access to several new markets. As a deep draft modern multipurpose port capable of handling fully laden Super Cape size vessels of up to 200,000 DWT, the GPL handles a diverse mix of dry and bulk commodities including coal, iron ore, fertilizer, limestone, bauxite, sugar, alumina and Steel,’’ the APSEZ said.
“We are committed to accelerating the industrialization of Andhra Pradesh,” Karan Adani, APSEZ CEO said.“The network of ports that we continue to build allows us to create an integrated mesh of logistics capabilities to deliver an unmatched set of services. Gangavaram is a major part of this mesh in one of India’s fastest growing States. We are excited about the growth prospects of the GPL, which is core to our east coast expansion strategy. The GPL is advantageously located to allow us unprecedented access to the untapped hinterland market,” he said.