Mercantile Ports shares treble as appoints former CIA senior to board

(Alliance News) - Mercantile Ports & Logistics Ltd on Wednesday announced the appointment of Marty Martin to its board.

Meanwhile, the port operator signalled plans to explore opportunities outside India.

Mercantile Ports shares shot up to 1.64 pence per share on Wednesday around noon in London, from 0.41p on Tuesday.

The firm said Martin, who previously served as central intelligence agency chief of station for the Near East Division between 2004 and 2007, will join subject to regulatory approval.

Mercantile Ports said the appointment comes as it pursues legal action relating to its Karanja port asset and evaluates opportunities in jurisdictions seen as more transparent for international investors.

Managing Director Pavan Bakhshi said: "We are extremely pleased to welcome Marty Martin to the Board. Marty brings decades of experience at the highest levels of US intelligence, geopolitical strategy and international operations, having worked under four US presidents."

Back in April, during a hearing in Mumbai, Mercantile had told a court that a committee "had approved a resolution plan received from Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd, which the company believes was improper as the matter was sub-judice and pending before the court".

Mercantile is arguing that the annulment of a one-time settlement with its lenders was "unlawful", and that events were "orchestrated with a view to remove the valuable asset [Karanja] from the company and hand it over to a pre-determined buyer".

The company in April had also stressed that Karanja "has never been operationally insolvent and remains revenue generating", with Mercantile entering "its largest contract since inception with a state-owned oil & gas enterprise".

By Tom Budszus, Alliance News slot editor

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