SOUTH AMERICA

DP World seeks bigger Latin America stake

7 years ago

DP World is looking at concessions in up to seven Latin American ports in the next year, according to the company’s chief operating officer.

Mahmood Al Bastaki said that DP World “has a big focus” on the region and here are “five or seven ports” in which concession announcements are expected over the course of the next year, reported Arabian Business.

“It’s all under negotiation,” he said. “We’d do concession agreements, and we’d prefer long-term ones. A port is a long-term investment. Wherever we go, we do capacity building, we create jobs for the local economy and local talent have an opportunity to get into a strategic business.”

Existing investment

In January, DP World acquired a 71.3% stake in Puertos y Logistica S.A. (Pulogsa) in Chile. Pulogsa operates a long-term concession for Puerto Central (PCE) in San Antonio, in Chile’s Central Region V as well as owning and operating Puerto Lirquen (PLQ) in Chile’s Southern Region VIII.

According to Mr Al Bastaki, who was speaking at the Global Business Forum Latin America 2019 in Panama City, Latin America is a particularly attractive region for DP World because of its relative stability compared with other parts of the world.

Alongside Chile, DP World has a presence in Peru, the Dominican Republic, Argentina and Brazil.

Mr Al Bastaki added: “I expect a big growth in trade [from Latin America]. Brazil has always been the main player, due to its size and manufacturing. There’s been a little bit of a slowdown, but this is bound to grow.”

By Rebecca Jeffrey