Adani Ports To Sell 49% stake in Vizhinjam project to Terminal Investment Company
New Delhi, June 30: Terminal Investment (TiL), the ports arm of Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), will acquire 49 per cent stake in Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone’s (APSEZ) Vizhinjam trans-shipment project in Kerala, valued at USD 2.85 billion.
Under the agreement signed today, TiL will pay USD 1.397 billion for its stake, with USD 539 million due upfront, and the remaining USD 858 million earmarked for its share of the port’s ongoing expansion, which is due for completion by December 2028.
APSEZ will hold on to 51 per cent ownership, retain board control, and continue consolidating Adani Vizhinjam Port Private Limited (AVPPL) as a subsidiary, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Both companies are calling it the largest foreign private investment in Indian port infrastructure to date.
It’s also the third joint venture between APSEZ and TiL, following earlier tie-ups at the Mundra and Ennore container terminals.
Vizhinjam, commissioned in December 2024, is India’s first deep-draft trans-shipment port, currently handling 1.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) a year. The expansion underway is expected to lift that capacity 3.5x, to 5.7 million TEUs, by the end of 2028.
APSEZ said the port has already crossed 2 million TEUs in throughput within 18 months of operations and recently received its 1,000th vessel call.
The company expects the MSC partnership to sharpen cargo visibility, lift transshipment volumes, deepen access to East African trade routes, and pull in more Bangladesh-bound cargo.
APSEZ Whole-time Director and CEO Ashwani Gupta said the expanded MSC partnership would help cement Vizhinjam’s status as a global transshipment hub and strengthen India’s links to key international markets.
“I am delighted to expand APSEZ’s long-standing partnership with MSC to Vizhinjam, as we prepare for the port’s next leg of journey. I am confident that our association will deliver enhanced supply chain efficiencies at a global scale and improve India’s access to key global mature and developing markets,” he said.
APSEZ, in a statement, said the strategic collaboration with MSC Group will deliver significant advantages for it, including:
- Enhanced volume visibility and accelerated ramp-up ahead of plan, driven by additional cargo volumes
- Higher share of Bangladesh cargo, largely dependent on competing Southeast Asian transshipment hubs
- Strengthening presence on East Africa trade routes
- Elevated relay cargo volumes
(BVI)
