The response from Ningbo port authorities has been less than enthusiastic, the sources said, although merger-and-acquisition (M&A)deals between Chinese state-run firms are largely up to the government to decide.
Shanghai Port set to finalize Belgian buy: sources
Shanghai International Port (Group) (SIPG), China's biggest port operator, expects to finalise this year its purchase of a major stake in a Belgium container terminal, sources close to the deal said last Friday.SIPG signed a framework agreement last September to buy 40 per cent of a container terminal in Zeebrugge, Belgium, that was built by APM Terminals, part of AP Moeller-Maersk Group, for about 45 million euros (S$92.3 million).The purchase marks Shanghai International Port's first major acquisition abroad and is likely to be part of a series of overseas acquisitions by the company in the next few years, the sources said.'Many more similar investments are expected in the foreseeable future,' said one of the sources, who asked not to be identified. Executives at SIPG declined to comment.The deal, which came after SIPG aborted an earlier attempt to buy into a small terminal in the United States, aims to expand outside China as it competes with global port operators such as PSA International and Dubai Port World (DPW).Similar acquisitions, including more purchases in developed countries, could be unveiled in the future, although access to the US market remains difficult due to political concerns, another of the sources added.'Dubai Port had to let go of its stake in a US port, so the chances there are equally slim for Chinese companies,' the source said, referring to a high-profile deal in which DPW had to sell its stake in the Port Newark container terminal to ease US concerns about security.SIPG, which operates the multibillion-dollar Yangshan deep-water port on the outskirts of Shanghai, already controls several major ports in China, including the Wuhan port in central China and Chongqing port in the south-west.It recently secured a deal to restructure the Jiujiang Port Group in Jiangxi province, marking the latest success of its domestic expansion scheme.SIPG had expressed interest in an equity alliance with Ningbo port, near Shanghai, which operates a deep-water container port that competes with SIPG's Yangshan port.