APSEZ to acquire 80% stake in global OSV operator Astro Offshore

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ), the ports and logistics arm of Adani Group, on Friday said that it has signed a deal to acquire 80% stake in Astro Offshore, a global offshore support vessel (OSV) operator in the Middle East, India, Far East Asia, and Africa. Post this announcement, shares of Adani Ports ended at ₹1,482.65, up 0.46%, with a market capitalisation of 3.2 lakh crore.  

The acquisition will be done in an all-cash deal for $185 million, implying an EV of $235 million and EV/FY25E EBITDA at 4.4x. “The transaction is expected to be value accretive from the first year itself,” APSEZ says in an exchange filing today.

As per the release, the deal is part of Adani Ports’ roadmap to become one of the world’s largest marine operators. There are no regulatory approvals required for the deal and the transaction is expected to close within a month, subject to fulfillment of operational conditions precedent. 

“Astro will add 26 OSVs to our current fleet of 142 tugs and dredgers, taking the total count to 168. The acquisition will also give us access to an impressive roster of Tier-1 customers while further consolidating our footprint across the Arabian Gulf, the Indian subcontinent and Far East Asia” says Ashwani Gupta, Whole-time Director & CEO, APSEZ.  

Established in 2009, Astro is a leading global OSV operator in the Middle East, India, Far East Asia and Africa. It owns a fleet of 26 OSVs comprising of Anchor Handling Tugs (AHTs), flat top barges, Multipurpose Support Vessels (MPSVs) and workboats and provides vessel management and complementary services. During the year ending April 30, 2024, Astro was net cash positive with revenue of $95 million and EBITDA of $41 million.

Earlier this month, APSEZ incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary company, DPA Container and Clean Cargo Terminal Limited, on August 9, 2024. The subsidiary has been established with authorised and paid-up share capital of ₹5 lakh divided into 50,000 equity shares of ₹10 each. The objective of the entity is to carry out the projects such as development, operation and maintenance of Berth No.13 for handling multipurpose clean cargo including container cargo at Deendayal Port on design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis.

Adani Ports has been recently assigned ‘AAA’ credit rating by CARE Ratings, which is claimed to be India’s first to a private corporate infrastructure developer. CARE has assigned ‘AAA’ ratings with stable outlook to Adani Port’s long and short term bank facilities and its non-convertible debentures (NCDs). Besides, the agency has given ‘A1+’ rating to the port operator’s commercial paper. As per the company, the rating is driven by APSEZ’s robust integrated business model, dominant industry position, strong growth in operations with healthy profitability, coupled with high liquidity and low leverage.