Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. has agreed to buy a 49.38% stake in liquid storage facility company Indian Oiltanking Ltd. for 10.5 billion rupees ($129 million) as its billionaire founder, Gautam Adani, seeks to bolster cargo handling operations in India.
Adani Group’s listed port company has also agreed to buy an additional 10% equity stake in IOT Utkal Energy Services Ltd., a subsidiary of Indian Oiltanking, Adani Ports said in a statement.
Adani Ports’ acquisition of the stake in Indian Oiltanking from Oiltanking India GmbH will boost its oil storage capacity by three times to 3.6 million kiloliter, making it India’s largest third-party liquid storage company, Chief Executive Officer, Karan Adani, said in a statement.
“This stake purchase is also well aligned with our strategy of diversifying the cargo mix with focus on products and services having higher realization and margins,” he added.
The majority of Indian Oiltanking’s tank capacity is contracted by government-owned companies and oil majors, the statement said. With around 80% capacity under ‘take-or-pay’ contract, there is a good visibility on the future cash flows of the company, it said.
Indian Oiltanking has built a network of six terminals across five states with a total capacity of 2.4 million kiloliter for storage of crude and finished petroleum products. The company recently signed a 25-year contract with Numaligarh Refinery Ltd for the construction, operation, and maintenance of 0.6 million kilolitre crude storage tanks at the Paradip Port.
In September, the Adani Group said it will develop a port in India’s West Bengal state at a planned investment of more than $3 billion as tycoon Adani’s ports-to-power conglomerate diversifies rapidly beyond its coal-based empire into green energy, data centers and digital services.