Gateway Distriparks Limited (GDL) has signed a share purchase agreement (SPA) to acquire Kashipur Infrastructure and Freight Terminal Private Limited (KIFTPL).
“The agreed purchase consideration for the acquisition of 99.92% shareholding of KIFTPL from its shareholders is ₹156 crore, subject to certain pre-closing and post-closing adjustments in accordance with the terms of the SPA, which is expected to close at the end of Q3 of FY 2022-23. The process to acquire the remaining 0.08% shareholding from Fourcee Infrastructure Equipments Private Limited, which is in liquidation, has been initiated,” the company said in a press release.
KIFTPL owns and operates a rail-connected inland container depot (ICD) at Kashipur, Uttarakhand. The facility is spread over 41 acres, has three rail sidings, and 17,000 square feet of warehousing space. The target market in the region includes various industries such as paper products, wastepaper, chemicals, home furnishings, handicrafts, automotive parts, polyfilms, soda ash and other industrial goods.
“Currently KIFTPL provides only terminal services, while rail services are provided by other container train operators. With this planned acquisition, GDL will provide exclusive rail services to this ICD using its existing fleet of 31 trains, in addition to offering all terminal services and road transportation, thereby transitioning this ICD to a full multimodal logistics park,” the company added.
By utilising the strength of the existing network of ICDs and providing cost-efficient rail services through the hub and spoke model, the Company will be able to grow the volumes at this ICD significantly. The existing volumes handled at ICD Kashipur are 3,000 TEUs per month on average.
“We are in a phase of high growth, and we see a lot of potential in the rail vertical of our business. We had already announced the commencement of construction of our new ICD in Jaipur last month. With this new acquisition that is planned, we will be owning 11 container terminals across India. We will continue to explore opportunities for expanding our presence through both greenfield and brownfield projects,” said Prem Kishan Dass Gupta, Chairman & Managing Director, GDL.
The proposed transaction is subject to customary approvals, and other conditions precedent required to be fulfilled by KIFTPL and its shareholders.