Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd and Gateway Distriparks Ltd have resolved their dispute over the cancellation of the former’s planned acquisition of Snowman Logistics Ltd, a Gateway subsidiary.
In a stock-exchange filing, Adani said that the two companies had agreed not to proceed with the acquisition and mutually settle all disputes relating to the matter.
Gateway Distriparks will continue to be Snowman’s promoter company, with Adani remaining a minority shareholder.
Snowman in a filing said that Gateway Distriparks had withdrawn arbitration proceedings against Adani Logistics.
“Adani Logistics shall not be involved in the day-to-day management or business operations of Snowman and shall not have a right to nominate or appoint any director on the board,” the company said.
Gateway Distriparks initiated arbitration proceedings against Adani in May after the latter scrapped a deal to acquire its stake in Snowman Logistics.
That month, Gateway said Adani Ports had not met the conditions necessary for completing the acquisition by the March 31 deadline despite the company showing “good faith” to resolve the matter.
That development came a month after VCCircle reported that Adani Ports was looking to renegotiate certain aspects of the deal to acquire a controlling stake in Bengaluru-based cold-chain logistics company Snowman.
The deal was announced in December last year, with Adani saying that the acquisition would help to expand its own cold-chain logistics and warehousing business.
As part of the process, Adani Ports said it would first acquire a 40.25% stake in Snowman from Gateway Distriparks for about Rs 296 crore.
It would then make an open offer to Snowman’s public shareholders to buy as much as 26% more for up to Rs 191 crore.
According to VCCEdge, the data research arm of Mosaic Digital, other investors in Snowman include Washington-based International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation.
Snowman was set up in 1993 and made a strong debut on stock markets in 2014. Its shares touched their peak in 2015 before falling in subsequent years.
Shares of Adani Ports were trading 0.87% up at Rs 363.55 apiece, while Gateway and Snowman were trading 1.26% and 5.27% up at Rs 88.5 and Rs 30.95, respectively.
