Looking at more port acquisitions in South-East Asia & Africa: APSEZ

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) , which manages four overseas ports in Israel, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Australia, is planning to acquire more international port assets located in Africa and South-East Asia, the company officials said.

“We are looking at some ports in Africa and South East Asia. I can’t disclose more. That is where we are targeting today,” Ashwani Gupta, CEO of APSEZ said, adding that the company was looking at future port acquisitions overseas that have the potential to grow and expand in the future.

“It should be a best match between what we want to do and what is available,” Gupta said during an earnings call held for the fourth quarter results for 2024-5. The official said that future acquisitions of overseas ports will be done in line with the company’s strategy to acquire assets across South-East Asia, India, Middle-East Asia and Africa. The company will also look to acquire assets where it can hold a majority stake and operate the acquired port. APSEZ recently announced the acquisition of North Queensland Export Terminal (NQXT) located at Port of Abbot Point in Australia. It also operates port operations at Colombo in Sri Lanka, Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania and Haifa in Israel.

Talking about port operations at Haifa, Gupta said, “In Haifa, we have achieved two major milestones. Firstly we have put our president to run the operations in Haifa. We will also have our CFO in Haifa to run the business. Then there are 4-5 specialised personnel who will support Haifa and improve efficiency and effectiveness.” The second major achievement which APSEZ has done at Haifa is to enter into negotiations with eight labour unions at the port. “We have signed the union agreement till 2036 which is bringing a big efficiency in the productivity improvement in the port,” the APSEZ official added.

Capital expenditure

APSEZ is targeting a ₹12000 crore capital expenditure for financial year 2026 and a possible port acquisition this year will only add to the investments for the current financial year. Of the proposed capex for FY 26, a significant portion is expected to be spent on beefing up infrastructure for handling of containerised cargo. “Container cargo will remain our growth driver. We are going to invest heavily on container terminals whether it is Mundra, Vizhinghim, Colombo, Ennore or Kattupalli. We want to keep expanding our capacities everywhere. That is the number one capex driver.” Gupta he said adding that APEZ’s market share in containers has grown from 43.8 percent to 45.5 percent in FY 25.

Having achieved record high cargo volume at 450 million tonnes, APSEZ, earlier this week, posted an all-time high Profit After Tax (PAT) of ₹11,061 Cr, a 37 percent year-on-year growth

Published on May 3, 2025

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