The proposed sale of a 49 per cent stake in Adani Vizhinjam Port Private Limited to the Mediterranean Shipping Company has raised questions that extend well beyond a corporate transaction. It has also exposed how easily political narratives can overwhelm legal and financial realities.

The facts deserve far greater attention than the rhetoric. There is one point on which there should be no confusion. The Government of Kerala continues to own the Vizhinjam Port. The proposed transaction does not transfer ownership of the port to either Adani or MSC. What is proposed for sale is a 49 per cent stake in the private company that holds the concession to develop and operate the port under a long-term agreement with the State. That distinction is fundamental.

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It is also where many of the arguments now circulating begin to lose precision. The concessionaire is not the owner, but a contractual operator. The land and the port belong to Kerala. The concession agreement grants the private company the right to build, operate, and eventually hand back the asset to the State in accordance with its terms.

The proposed transaction therefore does not amount to a sale of Kerala's port. Yet it would be equally mistaken to conclude that this is an ordinary commercial transaction with which the State has no concern. The transaction is anything but ordinary.

The concession agreement reportedly provides that a change in ownership beyond a specified threshold requires the........

© Mathrubhumi English