Adani Ports and SEZ acquires Karaikal Port for Rs 1,583 crore
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) has completed the acquisition of Karaikal Port Private Limited (KPPL) after the NCLT approval. Earlier, APSEZ was declared as the successful resolution applicant under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) of KPPL.
Karaikal Port is an all-weather deep-water port on India’s eastern coast that was developed on the Build, Operate and Transfer format under the Public-Private Partnership by the Government of Puducherry. The Karaikal Port was commissioned in 2009, and was developed in the Karaikal District of the Union Territory of Puducherry, around 300 KMS south of Chennai. It is the only major port between Chennai & Tuticorin, and its strategic location allows the port easy access to industrial-rich hinterland of Central Tamil Nadu.
The port gets a 14-meter water draft and has land area of over 600 acres. Its existing infrastructure includes 5 operational berths, 3 railway sidings, mechanized bulk cargo handling system including mechanized wagon-loading and truck-loading systems, 2 mobile harbour cranes and a large cargo storage space that includes open yards, 10 covered warehouses and 4 liquid storage tanks. With a built-in cargo handling capacity of 21.5 MMT, the port primarily handles Coal, Cement, Fertilizer, Limestone, Steel & Liquids. The upcoming CPCL’s 9 MMTPA new refinery at Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu presents an opportunity for Karaikal Port to handle an additional large volume of liquid cargo.
Details of the resolution plan
| Creditors | Admitted claims (Rs cr) | Amount provided for in resolution plan (Rs cr) |
| Financial Creditor | 2,959 | 1,580 |
| Employees and Workmen | 0.95 | 0.95 |
| Operational creditors | 17.5 | 2.13 |
| Total | 2,977 | 1583 |
As per the resolution plan, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone provides for Rs 1,583 crore of which Rs. 1,485 crore will infused as an upfront payment to financial creditors. The rest of Rs 95 crore will be provided to financial creditors from the cash balance of Karaikal Port.
Karaikal Port has allotted to APSEZ 1,000,000 equity shares of Rs. 10 each, for cash, aggregating Rs. 10,000,000 on March 31, 2023. All the equity shares issued prior to the approval of the Resolution Plan have been cancelled. After such cancellation and post allotment of equity shares of KPPL to APSEZ, KPPL has become wholly owned subsidiary of APSEZ.
The Insolvency proceedings against Karaikal Port was initiated by Omkara Asset Reconstruction Pvt Ltd in April 2022 after the corporate debtor defaulted on payment of Rs 2,804 crore.
Also Read: How JNPT lost its bid for Dighi Port to Adani Ports & SEZ
