According to Indian newspapers, APM Terminals is in early discussions to buy majority stake in the Indian port Kattupalli International Container Terminal in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has engaged L&T Infra Finance's advisory services to look for potential buyers for the 97% stake that L&T has in the Kattupalli port project.

State Government entity TIDCO holds the remaining stake.

According to sources, L&T is looking at an enterprise value of between US$370 million to US$402 million for its stake in the port.

The terminal, with a capacity to load 1.2 million standard containers a year, is part of a port complex that L&T Shipbuilding has built  jointly with state government entity TIDCO at Kattupalli with an investment of Rs.3,989 crore (US$641 million).

The Kattupalli shipyard and port was awarded to L&T in 2008 for development and operations for 30 years by the Tamil Nadu government without any competitive bid.

The terminal is operated and managed by Manila-based port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI). L&T had signed a port operation agreement with ICTSI in April 2011. L&T pays a fixed fee to ICTSI on each container handled at the terminal, according to the agreement signed between L&T and ICTSI.

APM Terminals is an international container terminal operating company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands. It holds 43.01 per cent stake in publicly-listed Gujarat Pipavav Port and runs a container terminals named Gateway Terminals at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Mumbai.