New Delhi - Terminal Investment Ltd. a unit of Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A, the world’s biggest container shipping line, has received security clearance to acquire a 49 percent stake for Rs247 crores in the container terminal run by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) in state-owned Kamarajar Port Ltd located in Tamil Nadu.

Terminal Investment Ltd, through its fully owned subsidiary Mundi Ltd, acquired a 49 percent stake in the 8 lakh twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) capacity Adani Ennore Container Terminal Pvt Ltd from APSEZ for Rs 247 crore, pegging the enterprise value of the terminal at Rs 1,211 crore, according to a 15 December 2023 announcement by the two companies.

This deal was awaiting security clearance from the Union Government, per procedure framed for port contracts. “The Government has granted security clearance to Terminal Investment/Mundi for the stake purchase,” a Government official was recently quoted as saying. “Kamarajar Port Ltd will now complete the formalities for share transfer in the terminal operating company as per the concession agreement,” said the official.

The transaction bolsters the strategic partnership between APSEZ and MSC which has an equal joint venture that runs a container terminal named Adani International Container Terminal Pvt Ltd (AICTPL), at Mundra Port, India’s largest commercial port and the flagship of APSEZ, located in Gujarat.

In 2014, APSEZ won the rights to build and operate a 1.4 million TEU-capacity container terminal for 30 years at Kamarajar Port Ltd (the only corporate port among the 12 owned by the Union government) after placing a revenue share of 37 percent. Adani Ennore Container Terminal Pvt Ltd currently has a quay length of 400 meters and an annual handling capacity of 8 lakh TEUs. The terminal handled 6,71,393 TEUs in FY24 from 5,50,000 TEUs in FY23.