Acquisition activity spikes with port sector deals prominent

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Acquisition activity in the ports and wider shipping and logistics sector is seeing something of a spike.

AD Port’s 100 per cent purchase of Noatum will see it take over container handling operations in Spain including in the leading ports of Valencia and Bilbao

Singapore to take a stake in Adani? As discussed in What comes after normal and new normal?, the bush telegraph beats that the Port of Singapore is closing in on buying a stake in Adani Ports & SEZ. The investment is reportedly to be used for expansion and acquisitions.

Also up for sale before the end of the current financial year is a 30 per cent stake in public-owned rail operator Container Corp of India (Concor), India’s largest container rail operator. The Indian Government is said to be showing new resolve to get on with the sale process with a number of pre-bidding sessions reported to have taken place with interested parties such as AP Moller Maersk.

Recently completed port deals include AD Ports purchase of Noatum, Stonepeak and Spirit Super’s acquisition of GeelongPort in the State of Victoria, Australia. Late October also saw an announcement that China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) had, around mid-year, disposed of its 30 per cent stake in the planned new Duisburg Gateway Terminal (DGT). The news of this transaction was released shortly after the German government approved the acquisition of a minority stake of less than 25 per cent in HHLA’s Container Terminal Tollerort GmbH by COSCO.

The Noatum disposal also involved COSCO, the company having acquired a 51 per cent stake in the ports, maritime and logistics sector focused group in 2017 for US$228 million. Noatum was acquired by AD Ports on a 100 per cent ownership basis for EUR660 million. The company’s port sector portfolio includes major container terminals in Spain in Valencia and Bilbao and overall a total number of 15 terminals spanning general cargo, ro-ro, container and other facilities.

AD Ports purchase of Noatum also followed hot on the heels of its November purchase of an 80 per cent stake in Dubai-based Global Feeder Shipping and September purchase of a 70 per cent stake in Transamar, the Middle East/East Africa regional container shipping company and terminal operator.

The Geelong port purchase has been undertaken by two essentially financial entities. Stonepeak is a US-based investment company specialising in infrastructure and Spirit Super a pension fund. The transaction is expected to close around the end of the first quarter of 2023.