APMT invests in Russian market

The investment makes AMPT an equal controlling partner in Global Ports via a partnership with Russian container terminal operator, N-Trans who, until now, was the main shareholder with a 65% stake.

The acquisition is the largest ever foreign investment in Russia’s transportation industry, pegging the value of Global Ports at US$2.3bn.

Kim Fejfer, CEO, APMT, said: “Russia will need world-class port infrastructure and operational excellence to serve global shipping lines and its own ambition of economic development.”

Francois Delenclos, Vice President, Strategy and Business Development told PS: “This partnership is an unusual move for us: it’s not just the scale of the investment, it’s also the nature of the involvement. Port operators like us would typically grow by taking control of new locations one by one as they become available for sale or as governments tender them out, rather than going into a regional partnership. A partnership made more sense here, we prefer having a solid partner in Russia in order to better serve our customers and to capture future growth.”

Three container terminals will be added by the way of the new partnership, two in Finland and one in St Petersburg. A major oil products terminal will also be added to its AMPT’s global network.

With the Russian market growing over 15% a year in the past five years, APMT’s investment in the country will create further opportunities to accommodate shipping customer’s growth in the future.

The transaction is expected to be take place by the end of the year.