China Merchants Port Buying Brazil’s TCP for USD 923 Mn

Hong Kong-listed port investor China Merchants Port Holdings Company has inked a deal to buy 90 percent of shares in Brazilian port operator TCP Participações S.A.

The acquisition of TCP, worth USD 923.7 million, will allow the group to expand its business to the Latin America region and further consolidate its position globally.

The remaining 10% of the issued share capital of TCP will be held: 6% by Soifer, 2% by Pattac and 2% by Tuc Par.

“Furthermore, the investment will provide the group the opportunity to make use of the marine transportation hub of TCP to develop its logistics network, export/import and industrial zone and potential residential projects and related financial service platforms, allowing for greater commercial synergies within the group,” the company said.

TCP and its subsidiaries are principally engaged in operating the container terminal concession in the Port of Paranaguá.

TCP has an infrastructure capable of receiving the largest vessels operating in the Latin America and is the second largest container terminal in Brazil with a design capacity of 1.5 million TEUs.

The capacity is planned to be further increased to 2.4 million TEUs each year upon completion of the expansion, which is expected to start later this year and complete by the second half of 2019.

In April 2016, TCP announced the renewal of the terminal concession contract for an additional 25-year period, ending in 2048.

China Merchants’ investments and operations span across China’s coastal areas including Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Ningbo, Qingdao, Dalian, Tianjin, Zhanjiang, Xiamen Bay, and Taiwan, and internationally, in Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Djibouti, Togo, Turkey, the United States and a number of countries in Asia, Europe and the Mediterranean region.

The closing of the deal is conditional upon obtaining the relevant approvals from governmental authorizations, including the approval by the Brazilian antitrust and regulatory authorities.