DP World revamping India business
India's largest foreign port operator, DP World, is restructuring its India business and creating a holding company to bring its Indian assets under one roof as it looks to expand its operations in India, reported The Economic Times.
The company, which had earlier acquired the business of the erstwhile Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co (P&O) in 2006, is planning to bring all its Indian assets under a holding company as many of them have a convoluted shareholding pattern with holding companies in Australia and the UK.
"Many of the companies have a convoluted shareholding structure and the idea of restructuring is to provide us with better control over the companies.
“We have different companies for each port and we want all of them to be under one holding company," said Anil Singh, senior vice-president and managing director of DP World (sub-continent).
The company, meanwhile, maintained that it is not looking to list the Indian company at the bourses following the restructuring.
"We are not consolidating from an IPO point and there are no plans at the moment to list the company in India.
“There are no concerns financially and we don't need to tap the market for any fund requirements," added Singh.
DP World is listed at the London Stock Exchange.
DP World's operations in India grew significantly after it acquired P&O and got access to its three operating terminals – at Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT), Chennai and Mundra.
The company also operates a rail business under Container Railroad services and Inland Container Depots (ICD) across India in addition to the port operations.
"The move will definitely help DP World streamline its operations on the financial level," said Hemant Bhattbhatt, senior director at consultancy firm Deloitte India.
At JNPT, the company operates one of the three container terminals and had also emerged as the lone bidder to develop a smaller container terminal at the port.
The company is now looking to bid for the fourth container terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, estimated to cost more than US$1.6 billion after JNPT cancelled a contract awarded to a consortium of Port of Singapore and ABG Ports last month.
DP World also operates the country's first transhipment hub at Cochin and had recently received Cabotage relaxation from the Union government allowing foreign vessels to enter domestic waters.
"The transhipment hub at Cochin is a game-changer.
“We are also keen to develop some of the other transshipment hubs that are likely to come up in India, as and when they come up," said Singh.
