Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited (APSEZ) has applied for environmental approval to increase the cargo handling capacity of its recently obtained Gangavaram port in Andhra Pradesh by 20 million tonne (mt) a year to 60.95 mt from 40.95 mt. The capacity growth will be undertaken via modernisation or mechanisation of the existing nine berths within the sanctioned project area of 1,800 acre the port operator said in the application for environmental approval. In the first half of FY2022, Gangavaram port managed 16 mt of cargo with revenue of Rs 617 crore, EBITDA of Rs 419 crore and an EBITDA margin of 68%. In September, APSEZ told the media that it had closed the purchase of Gangavaram Port Ltd (GPL) for Rs 6,200 crore after acquiring the 10.4% stake possessed by the Andhra Pradesh Government for Rs 645 crore. The boards of APSEZ and GPL have additionally sanctioned the merger of GPL with APSEZ taking into consideration GPL’s valuation of Rs 120 per share and fair value of APSEZ at Rs 754.8 per share, leading to a swap ratio of 159 shares in APSEZ for 1,000 shares in GPL for 58.1% stake owned by DVS Raju and family in GPL. The merger is subject to clearance from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), which is likely to be completed by March 31. Earlier, in April 2021, APSEZ procured 31.5% from Windy Lakeside Investment Ltd, a unit of private equity firm Warburg Pincus, and signed an agreement to buy the controlling stake of 58.1% owned by DVS Raju and family in GPL. After the merger of GPL and APSEZ, DVS Raju and family will get approximately 4.8 crore shares resulting in about a 2.2% stake in APSEZ worth Rs 3,604 crore. The purchase significantly extends APSEZ’s access to several new markets as a deep draft, modern, multi-focus ports, capable of managing completely laden super cape size vessels of up to 200,000 deadweight tonnes (DWT), Subrata Tripathy, Chief Executive Officer, Ports Vertical, APSEZ said during an analysts call. Image Source Also read: Adani Ports & SEZ to foray into West Bengal’s maritime sector Also read: Adani Ports scraps plan to develop container terminal in Myanmar