Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Group (BBI) has acquired stakes in ports in Germany, Belgium and the US. The company said the three completed transactions totaled a value of $616.5 million with combined FY08 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation forecast of approximately $53 million. CEO for transport Jeff Pollock said the transactions continue BBI's plan to integrated their portfolio of European Port operators, also spreading the portfolio into Asia and the east coast of the US.
"These acquisitions provide strong impetus for growth across the portfolio whilst taking the portfolio global through a controlled expansion strategy along common customer and product lines," he said.
"BBI will continue to maintain its strategic focus on investing in assets that will complement our existing transport portfolio and meet our strict investment criteria, while also delivering stable and predictable cash flows for BBI's securityholders".
BBI said its majority owned subsidiary Benelux Port Holdings ("BPH") had entered into a conditional agreement to acquire 43% of Westerlund Group and has reached an agreement with current shareholders to enter into exclusive and final negotiations concerning the sale of the final 57% in the company to BPH.
BBI claimed it now owns and operates the two largest independent forestry product terminals in the EU, both of which tie into each other with a commonality of traffic between the ports.
In addition the infrastructure group said it also owns port operators in the Port of Antwerp, which operates a 6.1km length of quay with 130 ha of land and handles over 12 million tonnes of product annually.
According to BBI, its European ports portfolio has a total combined FY08 forecast EBITDA of approximately $142.4 million. Westerlund's forecast calendar year 2007 EBITDA is 14.5 million euros, a 65% increase on the calendar year 2006 result.
"This is due to a base volume growth of 23% and considerable margin improvement," the firm reported.
The firm also announced it acquired 50% of Seehafen Rostock Umschlagsgesellchaft, the dominant port operator in the Port of Rostock located on the German Baltic Sea coastline.
BBI reported it had a draft agreement to acquire 50% of the shares in ICS, a leading general cargo port operator in the United States.
At 1135 AEDT, BBI securities were up 0.5c to $1.62.
"These acquisitions provide strong impetus for growth across the portfolio whilst taking the portfolio global through a controlled expansion strategy along common customer and product lines," he said.
"BBI will continue to maintain its strategic focus on investing in assets that will complement our existing transport portfolio and meet our strict investment criteria, while also delivering stable and predictable cash flows for BBI's securityholders".
BBI said its majority owned subsidiary Benelux Port Holdings ("BPH") had entered into a conditional agreement to acquire 43% of Westerlund Group and has reached an agreement with current shareholders to enter into exclusive and final negotiations concerning the sale of the final 57% in the company to BPH.
BBI claimed it now owns and operates the two largest independent forestry product terminals in the EU, both of which tie into each other with a commonality of traffic between the ports.
In addition the infrastructure group said it also owns port operators in the Port of Antwerp, which operates a 6.1km length of quay with 130 ha of land and handles over 12 million tonnes of product annually.
According to BBI, its European ports portfolio has a total combined FY08 forecast EBITDA of approximately $142.4 million. Westerlund's forecast calendar year 2007 EBITDA is 14.5 million euros, a 65% increase on the calendar year 2006 result.
"This is due to a base volume growth of 23% and considerable margin improvement," the firm reported.
The firm also announced it acquired 50% of Seehafen Rostock Umschlagsgesellchaft, the dominant port operator in the Port of Rostock located on the German Baltic Sea coastline.
BBI reported it had a draft agreement to acquire 50% of the shares in ICS, a leading general cargo port operator in the United States.
At 1135 AEDT, BBI securities were up 0.5c to $1.62.