Containers are being loaded onto a ship at Vizhinjam port.
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A unit of billionaire Gianluigi Aponte’s Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) is investing $1.4 billion in Adani Vizhinjam Port in southwest India amid booming trade in the world’s most populous country.
Under the deal, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) will sell a 49% stake in Adani Vizhinjam Port to MSC’s Terminal Investments Ltd. (TIL), according to an announcement released Tuesday by APSEZ. TIL is one of the world’s largest container terminal operators with a portfolio of more than 100 container terminals across five continents and a throughput of more than 70 million TEUs per annum.
The deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals, deepens the partnership between Aponte and Indian ports-to-energy billionaire Gautam Adani. The fresh capital from Terminal Investments will help support expansion plans for Vizhinjam Port, which handled more than two million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers in the first 18 months of its operations.
“Vizhinjam port has emerged as a premier transshipment hub and ramped up at an unprecedented pace,” Ashwani Gupta, director and CEO of Adani Ports, said in the statement.
The Vizhinjam Port, which began operations in December 2024, is already operating at close to full capacity of 1.6 million TEUs annually. To meet rising demand, the port is expanding annual throughput by almost four times to 5.7 million containers by December 2028.
The port, which is strategically located on a major shipping route connecting Europe, Middle East and Asia, is the third terminal joint venture between Adani Ports and MSC. The partners are already operating the ports of Mundra in the western state of Gujarat and Ennore in the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
With an estimated net worth of $88.4 billion based on Forbes’ real-time data, Adani is among the wealthiest in India. He is the chairman of the Ahmedabad-based Adani Group, which has interests in airports, cement manufacturing, energy, logistics, media, mining, ports and real estate.
While Adani’s partner, Aponte has an estimated net worth of $44 billion, according to Forbes’ real-time data. Aponte cofounded MSC, the world’s largest shipping company, with his wife, Rafaela Aponte-Diamant, in 1970. He is now MSC’s executive chairman, while his son, Diego Aponte, serves as president.