Meantime, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board agreed to pay nearly US$2.35bn for the container terminal business of Orient Overseas International Ltd. (OOIL), with OTPP set to acquire two terminals in Vancouver and two in New York harbour. OOIL will hang on to terminals in Long Beach, Taiwan and in mainland China (Tianjin and Ningbo), which are viewed as more strategic to its businesses. Project finance analysts have noted that these investments are being done at high multiples, by any yardstick. The acquisition price for the OOIL ports by the Canadian pension fund, represents 24x the recent EBITDA (a measure of cash flow) of the four facilities. Also in North America, a behemoth financial buyer new to the port/ terminal space, AIG Financial, has acquired the US operations of P&O Ports, ending the yearlong saga of Dubai Ports World. Price talk has been as high as $1bn. Analysts are awaiting AIG regulatory filings where the terms of the acquisition will be disclosed.