SOUTH AMERICA

China Merchants given go-ahead to buy TCP Participações

9 years ago

In Brazil, the competition authority Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica (CADE) – the Administrative Council for Economic Defense – has given its unrestricted approval to the purchase by China Merchants Port Holdings (CMPH) of port operator TCP Participações. The announcement was made in the Official State News Publication.

TCP operates the container terminal concession in the Port of Paranaguá (pictured) Photo: Deyvid Aleksandr Raffo Setti (idealizador) e Eloy Olindo Setti (executor)/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0

According to CADE, the purchase does not imply any horizontal overlap or effective vertical integration and therefore does not raise any concerns from the point of view of competition.

CMPH announced its decision to acquire a 90% stake in TCP in September for around $887m. TCP is known to be Brazil’s most profitable container terminal operation. The Paraná-based company, which handles containers at the Port of Paranaguá, was seen as a way for CMPH to expand its operations in Latin America. It is also a significant move on behalf of international investors, who have mostly so far shied away from buying assets in Brazil given problems with both the economy and with visible corruption amongst politicians.