Mercator likely to hive off dredging biz

MUMBAI: Mercator Ltd is planning to carve out its dredging operations as a separate subsidiary and plans to raise up to $200 million from financial and strategic investors for that business, two people aware of the matter said.

Mercator, present in dredging, shipping, coal and petroleum businesses, will initially carve out dredging business as a subsidiary on a slump sale basis, with an option of complete de-merger in future, these people said on condition of anonymity.

The company has appointed investment banker Singhi Advisors to manage the process. Emails sent to Mercator and Singhi for comment were not answered till press time.

Mercator is one of India’s largest dredging services providers. On August 4, Mint had reported that the firm was in talks with potential investors to raise investments for a potential bid for state-run Dredging Corp of India, which is expected to be put up for sale in the next few quarters.

The Times of India had reported that Mercator was in preliminary talks with Canadian investor Fairfax and Dutch dredging services company Van Oord to evaluate a joint bid for a controlling stake in Dredging Corp. In August, Union highways and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari said a proposal to sell a controlling stake by government in Dredging Corp. will be taken up by the cabinet soon. According to the people cited above, the government is looking at selling a 51% stake in Dredging Corp. where it currently holds 73.47%.

The major operators in India’s dredging market currently include Dredging Corp., Mercator, Adani Ports and SEZ and Dharti Dredging. Dredging Corp is the largest dredging company in India in terms of capacity and the only state-owned company.