Adani Ports makes $3.3 billion play for Evos Terminals

Mumbai: Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones (APSEZ) has submitted a binding offer of $3.3 billion (euro 3 billion) for Evos Terminals, a pan-European liquid storage and terminals company, said people aware of the development. Gautam Adani’s flagship company is seeking a key role in consolidation of the sector, especially in the continent, amid geopolitical volatility and heightened concerns over energy security, they said, with the West Asia conflict having affected the group’s domestic port volumes.

The five-year-old Evos is owned by Igneo Infrastructure Partners, a global asset manager, which in turn is held by First Sentier Group. It has eight tank terminals with a total storage capacity of 6.4 million cbm at seven key European ports in five countries making it strategic for global port operators and owners of maritime infrastructure assets. In 2025, it's EBITDA was estimated at 200 million euros.

Its portfolio includes storage for motor fuels such as gasoline but also eco-friendly options such as bio-diesel, sustainable aviation turbine fuel, green naphtha, bio-ethanol, e-methanol and bio-marine fuels.


Earlier this year, Igneo had mandated Morgan Stanley to run a formal sale process that had seen keen interest from several global contenders including KKR, EQT and other financial sponsors and specialised PE buyout groups such as Macquarie, Goldman Sachs Alternatives and BlackRock as well as pension funds including CPP Investments and operators like LBC Tank Terminals Chane and Exolum, among others.

APSEZ submitted the binding offer earlier this week as part of the competitive auction process, said the people cited. A final decision is expected in the coming weeks. Amsterdam-headquartered Evos completed a euro 950 million debt raise through its financing arm Evos Finance BV in July, refinancing much of its existing debt facilities. The liquid storage operator structured the deal as a mix of private placements and bank debt, securing an investment-grade rating in the process. Chief executive officer Harry Deans had said then that the exercise would help the company execute its strategy more effectively, citing opportunities to grow the business with customers as the energy transition continues.

Adani’s overseas push comes after it lost a 10 billion pound pursuit of UK’s Associated British Ports (ABP) to super fund IFM last week. On Wednesday, the management said it was evaluating 20 assets, including ports and terminals, as part of global expansion plans.

“Our strength is containers, so the first thing we look at is where opportunity is driven by containers,” APSEZ CEO Ashwani Gupta said on an earnings call. “We are also considering liquid terminals because ports tomorrow maybe a gateway to energy transition.”

Global Footprint

APSEZ operates 15 ports and terminals in India, with four international facilities in Israel, Tanzania, Sri Lanka and Australia. It handles more than 140 types of liquid cargo. Its domestic cargo-handling capacity stands at 653 million metric tonnes, according to the company’s latest operational disclosures. The Adani Group’s marine platform, Astro Offshore, has contracted with Oceaneering International to strengthen its deepwater engineering and offshore execution capabilities in Europe. This marks APSEZ’s entry into specialised subsea operations in Europe, advancing its ambition to build one of the world’s largest marine platforms in the world.

APSEZ, Evos and Igneo didn’t respond to queries.

The Adani company’s overseas acquisition strategy is centred on identifying the right cargo mix and assessing an asset’s potential returns before committing capital. It had Rs 8,483 crore in cash and bank balances at the end of March, as per data compiled by ETIG.

Bloomberg reported Wednesday that Adani was weighing a similar sized bid for another Dutch energy storage group VTTI as supply disruptions make such firms more valuable for energy trading and commodity traders.

Energy Security

The Iran war and supply disruptions across the hydrocarbons and chemicals value chain has forced countries and companies to seriously evaluate energy storage and logistics. ET was the first to report on August 18 that Aegis Logistics was closing in on an $1.5 billion acquisition of Dubai-based Tristar Holdings and expanding the footprint of the oil and gas logistics company beyond domestic storage and distribution into international maritime transport, fuel distribution and aviation fuelling. The transaction was announced a fortnight back.

Similarly, Singapore said it will begin storing Saudi Arabian oil from next year as it responds to global energy disruption due the war in the Gulf. The oil will be stored in the Jurong Rock Caverns, an underground facility on a man-made island off Singapore’s southern coast that can hold up to nine million barrels. Last month, a trio of European companies — Evos, SEFE and Petrogas E&P — signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore technical, operational and commercial partnerships across the carbon dioxide (CO₂) transport and storage value chain.

The ports-to-data centre conglomerate already has a presence in Haifa in Israel and is aiming for a string-of-pearls strategy to connect its hubs in India, West Asia and Europe.

“They want to create a corridor between Mundra in Gujarat and western Europe. This is becoming a strategic importance and an energy security issue for India,” said a UK-based commodity trader specialising in the space. “Currently, the company also has footprints spread out in Australia, Africa and Colombo, Sri Lanka… and (has) a mega global expansion plan.”

In FY26, 12% of the company’s revenue and 6% of its consolidated ebitda came from its international ports business.

APSEZ management also said the company is stepping up investment in India, raising its FY27 capital expenditure guidance to Rs 15,000-17,000 crore from Rs 12,000-14,000 crore earlier. It reported capital expenditure of Rs 10,521 crore in the first half of FY27. Gupta said the higher investment guidance was driven by accelerated projects in India and did not include any additional international capex, even for organic expansion.

“With strong cash flows, a healthy cash balance and a net debt-to-ebitda ratio of 1.9x, APSEZ is well-positioned for further expansion. Capacity enhancements at key ports, ongoing infrastructure projects, and global port acquisitions provide visibility for stable growth in FY27 and beyond,” said Alok Deora, an analyst with Motilal Oswal.

Its key assets in India — Mundra, Dhamra, Hazira and Vizhinjam — are among the ports where investments are being accelerated.

“The increase in capex does not include any international capex, even organic,” Gupta had said. “This increase in capex is mainly in India.” The company has also raised its FY27 revenue guidance to Rs 44,000-46,000 crore and earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation (ebita) guidance to Rs 26,000-27,000 crore, increasing both expectations by Rs 1,000 crore each. India trade recorded a modest growth of 3%, which also had an impact on the overall volumes of APSEZ. The company highlighted that the trade environment has not yet normalised. Its key assets in India -- Mundra, Dhamra, Hazira and Vizhinjam -- are among the ports where investments are being accelerated added Gupta. “The increase in capex does not include any international capex, even organic. This increase in capex is mainly in India. The company has also raised its FY27 revenue guidance to ₹44,000-46,000 crore and earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation (EBITA) guidance to ₹26,000-27,000 crore, increasing both expectations by ₹1,000 crore. India trade recorded a modest growth of 3%, which also had an impact on the overall volumes of APSEZ. The company highlighted that the trade environment has not yet normalised.