Pristine is a rail focussed logistics firm founded by two former Indian Railways officers.
Global Infrastructure Partners, which was acquired by asset management giant BlackRock for $12.5 billion in a global deal earlier this year, holds 57 per cent stake in Pristine Logistics & Infraprojects.
The private equity firm is looking to exit its investment in Pristine Logistics & Infraprojects on reaching the end of fund life.
“A. P. Moller Capital is one of the investors discussing a potential deal to acquire the stake from Global Infrastructure Partners,” a source told ETInfra.
A.P. Moller Capital focusses on critical infrastructure investments within transportation and energy transition. It is backed by Danish and international institutional investors.
Robert M Uggla, the Chairman of A.P. Moller Maersk A/S, is also the Chairman of A.P. Moller Capital.
An email sent to A.P. Moller Capital did not elicit a response at the time of going to press. Pristine Logistics & Infraprojects declined to comment.
Pristine Logistics & Infraprojects was founded in 2008 by Amit Kumar and Rajnish Kumar, two former Indian Railways officers after they quit the Indian Railways Traffic Service (IRTS).
The firm runs five logistics parks, including rail linked logistics parks, comprising private freight terminals, inland container depots and a dry port, strategically located near key industry clusters in the districts of Kanpur, Ludhiana, Patna, Siliguri and Birgunj (Nepal). The Birgunj ICD is the only rail-linked container terminal connecting Nepal and India.
The Company’s facilities can handle some 6,48,000 twenty-foot equivalent units or TEU’s a year.
It also runs a Gati Shakti Multi-Modal Cargo Terminal (GCT) for handling containers at New Rewari station along the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor.
Pristine Logistics & Infraprojects also owns warehousing of some 9,05,000 square feet, and runs about 2,624 domestic standard containers, 395 dwarf containers,390 trailers and 43 rakes.
It also holds a Category I license from the Indian Railways to run container trains for export-import-focussed operations across the National Capital Region/Ludhiana to Mundra/Pipavav route, Kanpur to Jawaharlal Nehru Port/Mundra route, Siliguri to Kolkata route and Visakhapatnam/Kolkata to Birgunj route.
In 2023, the company acquired Sical Logistics Ltd for about Rs400 crore under India’s bankruptcy law.
Sical Logistics runs container trains, container freight stations, 3PL, and warehouse management. Its operations are focussed in South India, particularly at Ennore, Mangalore, Tuticorin and Chennai, and conducts stevedoring operations at Visakhapatnam Port.
In the container train business, Pristine Logistics is seen as a “neutral player”, helping it forge long-term strategic associations with container shipping lines that allows the ocean carriers to offer specialised products to customers like block trains for their end-to-end play.
In August 2023, Pristine Logistics ventured into neighbouring Bangladesh by partnering with Summit Alliance Port Ltd (SAPL), a local company and a market leader in the off-dock sector.
Pristine Logistics signed a memorandum of understanding with Dhaka and Chittagong Stock Exchanges-listed Summit Alliance Port to set up joint venture companies for developing rail-linked Inland Container Depots (ICDs), Container Freight Stations (CFSs) and Multi Modal Logistics Parks (MMLPs) at strategically important locations in Bangladesh.
Summit Alliance Port handles over 25 per cent of export cargo and 15 per cent of import cargo of Bangladesh’s containerised volume.
