Adani Ports hits 52-week high on forming JV with France's CMA CGM Group

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone rose 1.36% to Rs 278.90 at 10:29 IST on BSE after the company said that it has signed an agreement with France's CMA CGM Group to develop a new common user container terminal at Mundra Port.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 77.66 points or 0.3% at 26,039.72

The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 4 July 2014.

On BSE, so far 4.54 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 8.62 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 280.65 in intraday high today, 7 July 2014. The stock hit a low of Rs 269.10 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 118 on 5 August 2013.

The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 4 July 2014, rising 12.86% compared with 4.66% rise in the Sensex. The scrip also outperformed the market in past one quarter, surging 52.9% as against Sensex's 16.11% rise.

The large-cap company has an equity capital of Rs 414.01 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) said that it has signed an agreement with France's CMA CGM Group to develop a new common user container terminal at Mundra Port. This will be the fourth container terminal at Mundra and will be a 650 meters terminal along with 27 hectares of back area, capable of handling 1.3 million TEUs annually. Following this announcement, the construction phase will be initiated immediately and completion will be in a record 24 months. The new terminal will be set up as an equal joint venture between APSEZ and CMA CGM Group.

This partnership is expected to significantly benefit both companies in accelerating the ramp up of export, import and transshipment container volumes in India, APSEZ said in a statement. As per the agreement, the transaction is subject to approvals from the regulators as maybe required including the competition commission of India, MoCI and the GMB, APSEZ added.

We are very pleased with this JV partnership that will help put our continued expansion at the Mundra port on an even steeper trajectory. The strategic value of such a partnership with a major global player like CMA CGM is hugely significant and opens up a whole set of additional opportunities and synergies for both the companies said Gautam Adani, Chairman of the Adani Group. This new container terminal will be an absolutely world class facility that will stimulate the growth of cargo benefiting our customers as well as help accelerate the industrial development over the vast hinterlands that Mundra provides access to. This will make Mundra the largest container port in the country.

Farid T. Salem, Executive Officer of CMA CGM and Director of the Board said: We believe in the development of India and of its economy. With this investment, CMA CGM and Adani Ports will develop a state-of-the-art infrastructure that will play a key role for the development of the country's industry. CMA CGM has strong ambitions in India. We have already a strong presence in India, through our 24 offices and our 8 direct shipping services. We are convinced our partnership with Adani Ports will significantly reinforce this strategy.

APSEZ's consolidated net profit declined 25.4% to Rs 529.80 crore on 11.8% growth in net sales to Rs 1079.09 crore in Q4 March 2014 over Q4 March 2013.

APSEZ is engaged in business of developing, operating and maintaining the port and port related infrastructure facilities including multi-product special economic zone.

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