SP Group sells Gopalpur Port in Odisha to Adani Ports

The Shapoorji Pallonji Group (SP Group) on Tuesday (March 26) announced the sale of its brownfield Gopalpur Port to Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd for an enterprise value of Rs 3,350 crore, as part of its deleveraging strategy with planned asset monetisation.

The under-construction Gopalpur Port in Odisha was acquired in 2017 by the SP Group.

Currently, it is capable of handling 20 MTPA. The port had recently signed up with Petronet LNG for setting up a greenfield LNG regasification terminal, adding predictable long-term cash flows for the port, the group said in a statement.

Second divestment for SP

The sale of the Gopalpur Port is the second port divestment in the last few months from the SP Group, a diversified construction and infrastructure, real estate and energy conglomerate.

It had earlier divested its Dharamtar Port in Maharashtra to JSW Infrastructure Ltd for an enterprise value of Rs 710 crore.

The group had acquired the Dharamtar Port in 2015 and had successfully turned around port operations, increasing capacity from less than 1 MTPA, when it took over to an expected capacity to handle 5 MTPA in FY24.

Asset turnaround

"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," a Shapoorji Pallonji Group spokesperson said.

The spokesperson further said, "These divestments are key milestones in our roadmap to reduce group debt and set the stage for growth, taking advantage of the macro trends for demand in our core businesses, both in India and overseas." The SP Group has been looking at several ways to reduce its debt, which has been reported to be around Rs 20,000 crore.

With agency inputs