Adani Group may join race to acquire GMR's Kakinada SEZ and port

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, a part of the Adani Group, may be eyeing GMR's Kakinada Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Andhra Pradesh, according to sources who told Moneycontrol.

An official of GMR said there would be an announcement regarding the sale of Kakinada SEZ soon, though he declined to give specifics such as the time-frame in which the sale would be completed, or the parties that have evinced interest.

A second person with knowledge on the matter said that Adani had sent out feelers for a possible deal. A spokesperson for the Adani Group however, denied any such development.

“We have not shown interest or taken part in this project,” said the spokesperson.

GMR owns 51 percent in Kakinada SEZ Ltd, which is developing a multi-product special economic zone spanning over 10,000 acres near Kakinada. GMR also has a license to build a multipurpose all-weather deep-draft port as a part of the SEZ at an investment of Rs 2,123 crore.

GMR is focusing on its airports and energy business, and is trying to offload stakes in non-core businesses such as the Kakinada SEZ,roads, and a coal mine in Indonesia where it holds a 30 percent stake.

The deal would give Adani a huge parcel of land, and a license to build a port located strategically in the heart of India's east coast.

Kakinada has two ports, the state government-run anchorage port with a cargo handling capacity of four million tonnes, and a deep-water port with a cargo handling capacity of 14 million tonnes per annum being operated by Kakinada Seaports under the private public partnership (PPP) model.

Adani had earlier evinced interest at acquiring Gangavaram port in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, but dropped its plans due to the high price quoted by the operator.

The company last year won a bid to develop the Bhavanapadu Port at Srikakulam, located at the northern coast of Andhra Pradesh. Adani operates a terminal under the PPP model for the handling of steam coal in the inner harbour of the Visakhapatnam Port.

Adani is India’s largest private port operator which runs 10 domestic ports in Gujarat, Goa, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Odisha with a capacity to operate 378 million metric tonnes of cargo.