Saturday, June 30, 2007

Private equity firm buys 25% stake in Chennai Container Terminal

The Chennai-based Chettinad Group, owned by M. A. M. Ramaswamy, has sold 25% stake in Chennai Container Terminal Pvt. Ltd, the special purpose vehicle that operates and manages a one million twenty-foot equivalent unit (teu) capacity terminal at Chennai Port.

Global Infrastructure Partners, a private equity firm focused on global infrastructure asset investments, has agreed to acquire the stake in Chennai Container Terminal through its firm International Port Holdings.

Global Infrastructure Partners is a $1 billion (Rs4,100 core) private equity joint venture formed by investment bank Credit Suisse and US conglomerate General Electric Co. The world’s third biggest container port operator, Dubai-government owned DP World, owns a majority 75% stake in Chennai Container Terminal.

Chennai is India’s second biggest container port after Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai. It handled 8.81 lakh teus in the 12 months to March 2007 and is expected to close the current fiscal with a million teus. Since its opening in 2001, the traffic at Chennai container terminal has grown at 18.7% a year, making it the second fastest growing container terminal in India.

(Source: LiveMint)

No comments: