The Hindu Business Line : Ocean Sparkle to get $25-m credit from IFC

Plans ahead
Expansion programme to support the company's current business of providing low-cost port management services.
Over the next three years the company expects to invest in several additional new/second-hand vessels for operations at ports, energy and offshore terminals in the country.

Chennai , Sept. 20

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, will offer a long-term credit line of up to $25 million (around Rs 110 crore) to the Hyderabad-based Ocean Sparkle Ltd, which has embarked on a $66-million (around Rs 300 crore) expansion plan.

Ocean Sparkle, which provides port management services such as harbour towage, mooring, pilotage, ship-to-ship transfer of cargo and control tower operations, is also arranging for funds from domestic financial institutions, its Managing Director, Mr P. Jairaj Kumar, told Business Line.

The expansion, which would be undertaken in 2007-09, would support the company's current business of providing low-cost port management services. By giving such services to Ocean Sparkle, ports benefit from giving away their non-core activities, he said.

The company's clients include major ports such as Ennore, Paradip, Mormugoa and Jawaharlal Nehru Port, and private ports such as Kakinada, Reliance terminal in Jamnagar and the Petronet terminal at Dahej. The company plans to tap the international market as part of expansion, he said.

It owns and manages one of India's largest fleets of harbour vessels, including 28 tugs and 17 other vessels. Over the next three years the company expects to invest in several additional new/second-hand vessels for operations at ports, energy and offshore terminals in the country, according to the IFC.

Ocean Sparkle's principal sponsors are Mr P. Jairaj Kumar, Mr Sanjeev Dhawan, Mr A.K. Sawhney and Mr R. Virender Prasad. Other shareholders include three venture capital funds — APIDC-Venture Capital, IFCI Venture Funds and Swiss Technology Venture Capital Fund — and a group of non-resident Indians, information in IFC Web site says.

The company expects to end March 2007 fiscal with revenue of Rs 100 crore compared with Rs 75 crore for previous fiscal, said Mr Kumar.

The IFC had earlier funded Ocean Sparkle, which formed a joint venture with PSA Marine (Pte) Ltd, a 100 per cent subsidiary of the Singapore-based PSA International. The first joint venture is executing the contract of harbour towage services by provision of a tugboat to Mormugao Port Trust.

Sealion Sparkle Maritime Services Ltd, another joint venture between Ocean Sparkle and PSA Marine, is executing a 12-year contract to provide services of the entire marine fleet for carrying out operations at Ennore Port Ltd.

Similarly, Sealion Sparkle Port and Terminal Services (Dahej) Ltd, also a joint venture between Ocean Sparkle and PSA Marine, is executing a 12-year contract to provide port operation and management services at the first LNG terminal in India at Dahej for Petronet LNG Ltd, said Mr Kumar.