Adani Ports to buy 95% stake in Gopalpur Port for enterprise value of Rs 3,080 crore

This is the second port divestment in the last few months from the real estate conglomerate. It had earlier divested its Dharamtar Port to JSW Infrastructure Limited for an enterprise value of Rs 710 crore.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, the largest private port operator in India, said on Tuesday 26 Mar  that it will acquire a 95 percent ownership in Gopalpur Port in Odisha for an equity value of ₹1,349 crore in order to strengthen its east coast footprint.

Adani Ports will purchase a 56 percent stake in Gopalpur Port from real-estate conglomerate Shapoorji Pallonji Group (SP Group) and a 39 percent stake from Orissa Stevedores.

The Gopalpur Port in Odisha was acquired by The Shapoorji Pallonji Group in 2017. SP Group started port operations after purchase by constructing the port's infrastructure and establishing stable industry ties, said the company statement.

Gopalpur Port can now handle 20 million tonnes of freight every year and runs at high efficiency levels. Gopalpur Port and Petronet LNG have decided to build a greenfield LNG regasification station, which will give the port steady, long-term cash flows.

Gopalpur handles a diverse mix of dry bulk cargo, including iron ore, coal, limestone, ilmenite, and alumina. "GPL (Gopalpur Port) will add to the Adani Group's pan-India port network, east coast vs west coast cargo volume parity and strengthen APSEZ's integrated logistics approach," said Karan Adani, managing director at Adani Ports.

“The planned divestments of Gopalpur Port and Dharamtar Port at a significant enterprise value demonstrate our Group’s ability to turn around assets and create stakeholder value in a relatively short period of time, capitalising our core strengths in project development and construction," said a spokesperson for the SP Group.

The Shapoorji Pallonji Group was advised by Deutsche Bank on this deal.