"We believe the assets in question are OOIL's four North American ports, which the company recently put up for sale," Goldman Sachs said in a research note.An OOIL spokesman declined to comment.Hong Kong-based property and container shipping group OOIL said last month that it had short-listed a handful of bidders for its terminal assets in North America, with a deal expected to be completed before the end of the year."OOIL has said they would not sell the assets to other shipping firms, so it is very possible the buyer would be a private equity firm," a shipping analyst said.Investment firms Macquarie Infrastructure Group (MIG.AX: Quote, Profile, Research) and Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Ltd., TPG-Newbridge [TPG.UL] and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR.UL: Quote, Profile, Research) have been tipped by local media as potential bidders for the OOIL assets.Completion of the sale would be a key catalyst to unlock hidden value in OOIL, Goldman said.OOIL shares have gained more than 33 percent since the company first declared its intention to sell the four ports on July 25, topping a 17 percent rise in the blue-chip Hang Seng Index <.HSI> in the same period.Container freight rates have gradually recovered from a low in February, but looming overcapacity and slower economic growth in the United States and other parts of the world might continue to put pressure on the shipping industry, which enjoyed a near three-year boom until the second half of 2005.While shipping firms and port operators have been the main purchasers in the industry, deal-hungry private equity buyers are seen as more willing to pay top dollar for container terminal companies, which generate stable cash streams.Last month, Macquarie Infrastructure Partners said it planned to buy Canada's Halterm Income Fund (HAL_u.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) for about C$173 million($151 million).Halterm's main asset is a container terminal and cargo handling facility in the port of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The deal came about two months after Hanjin Shipping (000700.KS: Quote, Profile, Research) said a Macquarie Bank (MBL.AX: Quote, Profile, Research) fund would buy a 40 percent stake in its six overseas terminals, which have assets valued at about US$870 million.Morgan Stanley has forecast a price tag for OOIL's terminals division -- which operates two terminals in Vancouver, one in New York and one in New Jersey -- of between US$1.1 billion and US$1.3 billion.OOIL has said it wanted to sell the terminals to lock in value and reinvest in its shipping business.It announced in October that it would buy four container vessels from Samsung Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. (010140.KS: Quote, Profile, Research) for US$477 million.The group has also invested in Long Beach Container Terminal, in California, Kaohsiung Container Terminal in Taiwan and two terminals in China.