Adani Ports buys 80% stake in Astro Offshore for $185 million

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) on Friday said the firm has inked a definitive agreement to buy 80% stake in Astro. The all-cash deal is worth $185 million, implying an EV of $235 million and EV/FY25E EBITDA at 4.4 times. The transaction is expected to be value accretive from the first year itself, said Adani Ports.

Astro is a leading global offshore support vessel (OSV) operator in the Middle East, India, Far East Asia and Africa. Astro 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.

Ashwani Gupta, Whole-time Director & CEO, APSEZ said, "Astro’s acquisition is part of our roadmap to becoming one of the world’s largest marine operators. 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. We look forward to working closely with Astro’s leadership team and scaling up the current platform.”

 Adani Ports stock closed 0.46% higher at Rs 1482.65 on Friday against the previous close of Rs 1475.85 on BSE. Market cap of the firm stood at Rs 3.20 lakh crore.