India Steel Tycoon Plans $336 Million Share Sale of Port Unit

(Bloomberg) --

Steel tycoon Sajjan Jindal’s ports unit is seeking to raise as much as 28 billion rupees ($336 million) through an initial public offering that is set to become the second-biggest in India this year.

JSW Infrastructure Ltd. is selling only new shares in the IPO, and has set a price range of 113 rupees to 119 rupees each, it said in a statement Monday. The offer opens on Sept. 25 and closes on Sept. 27.

The share sale would be the biggest since Mankind Pharma Ltd.’s listing in May. Optimism over growth in the economy and corporate earnings, along with persistent weakness in China, have boosted the nation’s appeal with investors pouring more than $16 billion into Indian equities so far this year.

“The company is looking at acquisition of few assets, targeting liquid gas and container assets,” and also brownfield expansions, Arun Maheshwari, chief executive officer of JSW Infrastructure, said at a conference. It is also seeking to buy government-owned ports as one to two port terminals are likely to be privatized every month, he added.

The JSW Group firm plans to use the IPO proceeds to invest in units JSW Dharamtar Port, JSW Jaigarh Port and JSW Mangalore Container Terminal, and also repay 8.80 billion rupees of outstanding borrowings, it said.

The company will be net debt free after the listing, Chief Financial Officer Lalit Singhvi said at the news conference.

JSW Infrastructure had an installed cargo handling capacity of 158.43 million tons a year as of June 30 across the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Odisha and Tamil Nadu. It also operates two port terminals in the UAE with a capacity of 41 million tons a year.

This is the third company within Jindal’s JSW Group to list on Indian exchanges after JSW Energy Ltd. in January 2010 and JSW Steel Ltd. in May 1995. The firm, which began operations in 2004 catering primarily to the group’s steel and energy businesses, will also be the second ports company to list on Indian bourses after Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd.

“We were heavily invested on captive cargo during the early years and started addressing third-party businesses from 2018 onward,” said Maheshwari. “Our next phase going forward is to get into services and connectivity projects like roads, rails or pipelines to grow the third-party business.”

Around 33.4% of all cargo movement at JSW Infrastructure’s ports was related to third-party clients as of the year ended March 2023 compared to 6% in 2018-19, he added. 

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