Dubai’s bulker chartering operation Adhira Shipping & Logistics (ASL) is set to launch an IPO on London’s AIM exchange in 2025.
The specialist in African mining logistics is currently valued at $50m, with the potential to go up to $100m, chief executive Captain Pappu Sastry told TradeWinds.
During an event at the Aqua Shard in London, he indicated that the UK was “a better place for doing the IPO”.
Speaking on the 31st floor, the executive highlighted the company’s prospects for securing long-term contracts with leading global mining companies.
“As the new mine owners set up shop in Africa, there is an opportunity to implement better planning, optimise energy use and resources, and manage equipment and transport capacity more effectively,” he said during the event.
Sastry outlined the rapid expansion in junior mines across Africa, as demand for a range of commodities, such as bauxite, iron ore and manganese, and critical minerals, such as lithium, cobalt, copper and tin, continues to grow.
ASL said it expects to achieve revenues of $1bn through its core services within 10 years.
“The opportunity to invest in Africa’s mining sector brings high returns with manageable risk,” Sastry said.
“ASL will also replicate this model in other geographies outside of Africa to diversify the business into various commodities with the same activities.
“This will also drive the changes in logistics needed to become more sustainable,” Sastry added.
ASL is primarily an asset-light shipping company for both land-side and ocean-side transportation, working with mining and trading companies from North America, Europe, the Middle East, Australia, South East Asia and India.
It awards contracts of affreightment on behalf of miners to companies like Norden and Vitol.
Speaking about why London was chosen, the CEO said: “There is a necessity for a market that understands Africa and understands logistics and services. We are asset-led, so we don’t own anything.”
Captain keeping control
“We are only a services company and we have analysed Australia, Canada, the UK and the US, and we find that the UK is the better place for doing an IPO in terms of African understanding and understanding of services, rather than assets,” he explained.
A London Stock Exchange listing would be more regulated yet focused on a valuation based on assets, he explained.
“So an AIM listing, you can actually get to a better valuation on services with the contracts that you have actually signed,” Sastry said.
“Actually, with the contracts that we have signed till now, our valuation is around $50m. And with the potential contracts in the pipeline, we could go up to $100m,” the former mariner explained.
The company is planning to float 49% of the equity.
“It will depend on how the valuation will be perceived by the market. So it is a work in progress,” Sastry told TradeWinds.
An IPO is likely in the first half of 2025 and Sastry, currently the sole shareholder, plans to retain 51%.
Asked if miners would invest in the IPO, he said: “Actually we are not wanting the mining companies to invest.
“So the money that we get, we are going to use it for getting better access to longer contracts from good mining companies.”
Money needed for expansion
ASL also needs funds because “we are having to reject a few offers only because they don’t have the money, we don’t have the money”, the CEO added.
Sastry told TradeWinds the financial climate is currently good for IPOs.
The last significant shipping-related IPO in London was the $254m float of Ed Buttery’s handysize bulker company Taylor Maritime Investments in 2021.
Adhira was formed through Sastry’s 2024 buy-out of Dubai-based Arise Shipping & Logistics, of which he was the CEO.
Sastry was previously chief executive at Asian Bulk Logistics and then founded Nepa Projects & Investments.
Earlier in his career, he was a master on reefer boxships for Fleet Management before managing its insurance operations ashore.
