Adani Group to don a new corporate identity soon/news09012012

Gautam Adani-promoted Adani Group has decided to don a new corporate identity soon and has roped in England-based brand consultancy Wolff Olins to do the job.

The Adani Group is into ports, power, coal mining, and agri business apart from an SEZ and a shipping-line, called Adani Shipping, with six vessels.

“We’ll soon have a new corporate identity and tagline. The Dubai office of the England-based creative agency Wolff Olins has been mandated to work on this image makeover,” Adani Power Chief Executive Mr Ravi Sharma said.

However, he refused to give a time-frame for the brand makeover and the investment details. He also refused to share whether the company will have a new name after the makeover.

A part of the Omnicom Group since 2001, Wolff Olins was set up in 1965 and is a brand consultancy and creative agency with offices in London, New York and Dubai and employs 150 designers, strategists and account managers.

Meanwhile, the group’s flagship Mundra Port and SEZ has renamed itself as Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone after an extra-ordinary general body meeting of its shareholders accepted the proposal on December 31.

The group operates ports at Mundra, Dahej, Hazira (all in Gujarat), coal berths in Goa and Visakhapatnam, and a coal terminal in Abbot Point in Australia and is investing around Rs20,6700 crore in these projects. But its bids for the port projects in Chennai and Vizhinjam were recently rejected.

But despite these reversals, Group Chairman Gautam Adani has drawn up an ambitious growth plan for 2020, which has the group targeting to mine as much as 200 million tonne (MT) coal, achieve a cargo handling capacity of 200MT, produce 20,000MW electricity and acquire 20 large ships, all by 2020.

“The shipping venture will see us investing about $1.4 billion in 14 ships by 2020, Mudra Port & SEZ Director Mr Rajeev Sinha said.

According to company insiders, Adani has a fetish for the number 20 and hence the 2020 businesses target.

When contacted, Mr Sinha said, “We also read from media that the Home Ministry has denied us security clearance. We are yet to hear from the ministry.”

In fact, the group’s port business received two severe setbacks in as many weeks. On December 30, the Chennai Port rejected its Rs3,700-crore bid for a mega container terminal project, citing very low revenue share offer (5%), despite being the sole bidder.
....more info