China Merchants, COSCO Pacific and CIC Capital agree to acquire 65% equity interests in Kumport Terminal in Turkey
China Merchants Holdings (International) Company Limited announced the entering into of a sale and purchase agreement on [16] September 2015 between Fina Holding A.S. and its individual shareholders, and a Luxembourg-registered joint venture formed between the Company, COSCO Pacific Limited and CIC Capital Corporation. The Tripartite Consortium will have an equity interest of 65% in Kumport upon the completion of the acquisition, at a consideration of USD940 million, with the remaining 35% equity interests held by State General Reserve Fund in Oman. CMHI, COSCO Pacific and CIC Capital will have equity stakes of 40%, 40% and 20% in the Tripartite Consortium, respectively.
Kumport is the third largest container terminal in Turkey and is located within the Ambarli Port Zone on the northwest Marmara Sea, which is on the European side of Istanbul, the capital of Turkey, and an important strategic location at the junction in the Eurasian region. The terminal is only 35 km away from the Bosphorus Strait, , a gateway to the Black Sea region where all routes into the Black Sea must pass through. The 6-berth terminal currently has a shoreline of 2,180 metres and maximum water depth of 16.5 metres, which is capable of accommodating the world's largest container vessels currently. The container handling capacity of the terminal is 1.84 million TEUs at the moment, which can potentially be expanded to 3.5 million TEUs. In 2014, Kumport handled a total container throughput of 1.414 million TEUs, accounting for 17% of the countryЁЏs total, and with the compound annual growth rate exceeding 30% between 2009 and 2014.