Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) has announced its elevation of its credit rating to ‘AAA’ by CARE Ratings. This is the highest possible rating given to any issuer in India by credit rating agencies, signifying APSEZ’s strongest level of credit worthiness and the ability to fulfil all its financial guidance.
With this development, APSEZ has become the first large sized private infrastructure developer to get this recognition. 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.
APSEZ’s successful track record of turning around port assets post-acquisition and its integrated approach as a transport utility providing services from port gate to customer gate has led to 15% compounded annual growth in volumes for FY19-FY24 as compared to 4% CAGR for all Indian ports. In FY24, APSEZ did a cargo volume of 419.95 MMT, 24% higher than the previous year.
Karan Adani, Managing Director, APSEZ said, “We cherish the recognition to our financial discipline and commitment to deleveraging, diversified asset base as well as customer base and the highest profitability in this sector globally.”
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ), a part of the globally diversified Adani Group has evolved from a port company to an Integrated Transport Utility providing an end-to-end solution from its port gate to customer gate. It is the largest port developer and operator in India with 7 strategically located ports and terminals on the west coast (Mundra, Tuna, Dahej, and Hazira in Gujarat, Mormugao in Goa, Dighi in Maharashtra and Vizhinjam in Kerala) and 7 ports and terminals on the East coast of India (Haldia in West Bengal, Dhamra in Odisha, Gangavaram and Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Kattupalli and Ennore in Tamil Nadu and Karaikal in Puducherry), representing 27% of the country’s total port volumes. The company is also developing a transshipment port at Colombo, Sri Lanka, and owns the Haifa Port in Israel.
The company’s Ports to Logistics Platform comprising port facilities, integrated logistics capabilities including multimodal logistics parks, Grade A warehouses, and industrial economic zones, puts it in an advantageous position as India stands to benefit from an impending overhaul in global supply chains. The company’s vision is to be the one of the largest ports and logistics platform in the world in the next decade. With a vision to turn carbon neutral by 2025, APSEZ was the first Indian port and third in the world to sign up for the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) committing to emission reduction targets to control global warming at 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
