Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) on Friday said that it has entered into an agreement to acquire an 80 per cent stake in Astro Offshore for $185 million in an all-cash deal.
Astro is OSV (offshore support vessel) operator in West Asia, India, Far East Asia and Africa.
Set up in 2009, it owns a fleet of 26 OSVs comprising anchor handling tugs (AHTs), flat top barges, multipurpose support vessels (MPSVs) and workboats. Astro provides vessel management and complementary services.
A statement from Adani Ports said the promoters of Astro will hold the remaining 20 per cent stake. The company said the transaction implies an enterprise value of $235 million and is expected to be value accretive from the first year itself.
During the year ended April 30, Astro posted revenues of $95 million and $41 million EBITDA. As of April 30, Astro was net cash positive. EBIDTA stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation
The Adani group firm disclosed that there are no regulatory approvals required and the transaction is expected to close within a month, subject to fulfilment of operational conditions precedent.
“Acquisition is part of APSEZ’s road map to becoming one of the world’s largest marine operators,” it said while noting that Astro will enhance APSEZ’s global marine portfolio and add new Tier-1 customers to the roster.
APSEZ whole-time director and CEO Ashwani Gupta said, “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.”
Astro has customers such as NMDC, McDermott, COOEC, L&T and Saipem.
Shares of Adani Ports ended at ₹1,482.65 on Friday on the BSE, a gain of 0.46 per cent over the last close.
