News Update

Adani Group announces acquisition of Israel’s Port of Haifa for $1.2 billion

• ByStartupStory     |    February 1, 2023

The Adani Group acquired the strategic Israeli port of Haifa for $1.2 billion on Tuesday, vowing to transform the skyline of this Mediterranean city as part of its decision to invest more in Israel, including the establishment of an artificial intelligence lab in Tel Aviv.

Gautam Adani, the chairman of Adani Group, whose business empire has been rocked by allegations of fraud by US short seller Hindenburg Research, appeared alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the signing of the deal to take over Haifa Port and spoke about investment opportunities.

Prime Minister Netanyahu called the Haifa port deal with the Adani Group a “enormous milestone,” saying it will improve connectivity between the two countries in a variety of ways.

The Port of Haifa is Israel’s second largest port in terms of shipping containers and the largest in terms of shipping tourist cruise ships.

“I think this is an enormous milestone…Over 100 years ago, and during World World I, it was the brave Indian soldiers who helped liberate the city of Haifa. And today, it’s very robust Indian investors who are helping to liberate the port of Haifa,” Netanyahu said.

The Prime Minister said that he discussed with his “good friend” Indian counterpart Narendra Modi this vision of “having connectivity between our countries in many ways, transportation lines and air routes and sea routes…and it’s happening today.” 

He said what is happening today has historic importance because what “we see there is a tremendous boost for peace.” 

According to Netanyahu, the region will become an entry and exit point for a large number of goods that will travel directly to the Mediterranean and Europe without passing through three choke points.

“This is an unequivocal expression of confidence in the Israeli economy,” he said, adding that privatisation of the ports and the entry of new investors strengthen Israel’s economic strength, lowers the cost of living and creates new opportunities for import and export and strengthens ties between India and Israel. 

Adani, for his part, stated that his company will also develop real estate at the port in order to transform the Haifa skyline. The Hindenburg disaster, which has already wiped out over $70 billion in value from his group’s stocks, was not mentioned by the 60-year-old Indian tycoon. 

“We have initiated several dozen technology relationships wherein we have offered the entire Adani portfolio of companies to be a giant sandbox for us to learn together,” he said in his speech. “We are also in the process of setting up an Artificial Intelligence lab in Tel Aviv which will work in close collaboration with our new AI labs in India and US.” 

 

 

Follow Startup Story