Adani Ports Sells 150 Million US dollars Myanmar Terminal at 1/5 of the price

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) said that it has “concluded” the sale of its newly constructed container terminal in Myanmar for 30 million US dollars, some 120 million US dollars less than what it has spent to erect the facility that suddenly waded into controversy and became a sticking point for the company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials.

 APSEZ said the controversial terminal was sold to Solar Energy Ltd.

 “Given the continuous delay in the approval process and challenges in meeting time lines, APSEZ has obtained an independent valuation (of the terminal) on “as is where is” basis, thereby the buyer and seller have renegotiated the sale consideration to 30 million US dollars,” APSEZ said in a veiled explanation on selling the terminal for a value much lower than what it had invested to build the facility.

APSEZ premature exit from the Myanmar terminal is a setback for the firm’s strategy to string together a ‘sub-continental ports necklace’ through organic/inorganic initiatives, extending from India to Colombo and Myanmar, with the objective to provide a South Asian logistical solution.

In May 2019, the Adani Group said it would invest as much as 290 million US dollars to build and run a new container terminal along the Yangon River on a 50-year deal. The Myanmar project was promoted by Adani Yangon International Terminal Co Ltd (Adani), a unit of Coastal International Terminals Pte Ltd.

The Ahlone International Port Terminal 2 (AIPT 2) was being developed on 54 acres of land leased from the Myanmar Economic Corporation Ltd (MEC), an entity sanctioned by the U.S. following the February 1 military coup against the democratically elected civilian government of Myanmar.