Adani Ports & SEZ Ltd complete Rs 12,000 cr acquisition of KPCL

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited (APSEZ) on Monday announced the completion of the acquisition of the Krishnapatnam Port Company Limited (KPCL) for an enterprise value of Rs 12,000 crores.

Ad Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited (APSEZ) on Monday announced the completion of the acquisition of the Krishnapatnam Port Company Limited (KPCL) for an enterprise value of Rs 12,000 crores.

This will result in APSEZ, India's largest port developer, operator and the logistics arm of the Ad Group, to have a controlling stake of 75 per cent in KPCL from the CVR Group and other investors.

As per a release, the multi-cargo facility port situated in southern Andhra Pradesh is expected to generate Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) of approximately Rs 1,200 crores in FY-21, "resulting in an acquisition EV/ EBITDA multiple of 10x."

"This acquisition will accelerate APSEZ's stride towards 500 MMT by 2025 and is another step in implementing APSEZ's stated strategy of cargo parity between west and east coasts of India," it said.

Speaking about the acquisition, Karan Ad, Chief Executive Officer and Whole Time Director of APSEZ said, "I am happy that KPCL the second largest private port in India has now become part of APSEZ portfolio. This transformational acquisition enables us to roll out world class customer service to an increased customer base and provide pan India solution to them. Our experience of turning around acquisitions like Dhamra and Kattupalli ports will enable us in harnessing the potential of KPCL. We will target to enhance throughput at KPCL to 100 MMT by FY25 and double its EBIDTA by FY23."

"With a vast waterfront and land availability of over 6,700 acres, KPCL is capable of replicating Mundra and would-be future-ready to handle 500 MMT. We will replicate our operations and maintenance philosophy at KPCL, continue to focus on environment, reduce emission levels and have zero tolerance for fatalities and thus improve returns to stakeholders," he added.

APSEZ has 11 ports and terminals-Mundra, Dahej, Kandla and Hazira in Gujarat, Dhamra in Odisha, Mormugao in Goa, Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, and Kattupalli and Ennore in Chennai, representing 24 per cent of the country's total port capacity.

The company handles vast amounts of cargo from both coastal areas and the vast hinterland and is also developing a transhipment port at Vizhinjam, Kerala and a container Terminal at Myanmar.

( With inputs from ANI )