Adani group completes acquisition of Austrialian port

Adani Group's Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone (MPSEZ) today announced the completion of its A$1.829 billion (Rs8,900 crore) acquisition of Abbot Point Port Coal Terminal (APPCT) in Australia.

The all-cash deal, completed in a record 28 days, marks one of the largest outbound acquisitions by any Indian company overseas in the last fiscal.

"The acquisition of APPCT has been completed today. We have paid the entire amount of A$1.829 billion to the Queensland treasury and have taken over the ownership and operations of the port," MPSEZL chief financial officer B Ravi said.

"The port has been re-christened Adani Abbot Port Coal Terminal (AAPCT) Pty and has started operations from today. Our directors have joined the board of the new company and a team is in place there," he said.

Mundra Ports and SEZ signed the sale and purchase agreement in Brisbane for the port on 3 May. The financing for the project has been arranged by the State Bank of India and Standard Chartered bank.

"The short-term funding will be replaced with an assets-based financing for which we have $1.5 billion worth assets in the new company," Ravi said.

"We can go in for long-term asset-based debt of up to $1.3 billion based on the assets of AAPCT, he said, adding, there would be MPSEZL-level debt either through convertible bonds or some other financial instrument which is yet to be decided."