Lamnalco to buy Boskalis’s terminal activities

Royal Boskalis Westminster has reached an agreement with the Rezayat Group of Saudi Arabia to sell its subsidiary Smit's terminal and AHTS transport activities to Lamnalco, in which Boskalis and Rezayat each own a 50 percent stake. Lamnalco will pay approximately US$450 million for these activities, with Boskalis receiving a net cash sum of around 75 percent of this amount, Bairdmaritime reports.

Lamnalco will acquire all of Smit's terminal activities, with the exception of the activities of Rebras (Brazil) and joint ventures in Egypt and Singapore (Keppel-Smit). In addition, Lamnalco will take over eight L-class AHTS vessels. On balance the activities sold represented an EBITDA of around US$55 million in 2010. Currently operating over 50 terminal contracts, the combined entity will employ more than 2,000 staff on over 150 vessels and in more than 30 countries across five continents.

The transaction is expected to be executed in the second half of 2011, subject to satisfaction of the customary conditions. The sale of Smit’s activities is not expected to have a material one-off accounting effect on Boskalis's 2011 income statement.