India Infrastructure Fund (IIF), managed by IDFC Project Equity Company Limited, will be investing Rs 150 crore in Karaikal Port Private Limited (KPPL). Edelweiss Capital Limited is the exclusive financial advisor to this transaction.
IIF will take an equity stake in KPPL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chennai-based infrastructure and real estate development company MARG Limited, to fund its Rs 1,500-crore Phase-II expansion, which is proposed to be operational by September 2011.
Karaikal port, a deep-water port in Puducherry, port plans to have a total of nine berths with a combined handling capacity of 47 metric tonne per annum (MTPA) to be developed in three phases. While Phase-I comprising two berths – one each for coal and general cargo – is currently operational, the final phase will be completed by 2016.
“Port investments in India are fundamentally attractive because the trade volumes will pick up. Karaikal is a bulk port, which will see a lot of throughput as the port's hinterland is Tamil Nadu, an economically progressive state. The port will be a beneficiary of the incremental trade going forward,” said MK Sinha, managing director and chief executive officer of IDFC Project Equity.
MARG is developing the Karaikal port based on a 30-year concession from the Puducherry government. The concession agreement was signed in January 2006. The port is being developed on a build, operate and transfer basis through the public-private partnership route.
Phase-I of the port was developed at a cost of Rs 416 crore and the port received its first vessel on April 15, 2009. So far, it has received more than 160 vessels and handled cargo of more than 1.5 million tonne.