Gujarat Pipavav Port raises Rs 350 cr through private equity

Gujarat Pipavav Port said it has raised Rs 350 crore through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) of shares and preferential issue to its promoter APM Terminals.

The infusion will be used for repayment of the existing loans which will enable it to tie up funds for its Rs 1,097-crore expansion, the company said in a statement. It raised Rs 199.48 crore through a QIP of 3.41 crore shares to a clutch of investors like Bajaj Life Insurance, SBI Life Insurance, Franklin Templeton, Kotak Mahindra, Vanguard International Explorer Fund, Schroder Asia Pacific Fund, Jardine Fleming, the statement said.

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Apart from that, 2.58 crore shares were issued to the promoter to raise Rs 152.52 crore, it added. Both the QIP and the preferential issues were done at Rs 58.45 per share, which was trading 1.08 percent up at Rs 56.20 apiece on the BSE.

Promoter APM Terminals’ shareholding in the company will continue to be maintained at 43.01 percent after the capital raising, it said. The company is undertaking a capital expenditure of Rs 1,097 crore to increase capacity at the port and enhance operational efficiencies.

“We propose to increase capacity for container cargo to around 1.5 million TEUs and for bulk cargo to around 10 million tonne,” its managing director Prakash Tulsiani was quoted as saying. The plans include constructing a new container berth of 348 metres to provide contiguous berth of 735 metres which will help it handle two post-Panamax vessels simultaneously, dredging, three new cranes, increasing yard capacity, it said.

On the bulk cargo side, it will be constructing a new container berth which will enable the port to dedicate the existing multi-purpose berth exclusively for bulk cargo services and extending the berth by 110 metres, the statement added.

PTI