YILDIRIM GROUP ADDS TERTIR’S TEN PORT TERMINALS TO YILPORT’S PORTFOLIO
YILPORT HOLDING of YILDIRIM GROUP in Turkey is pleased to announce that it has reached an agreement with Portugal’s MOTA-ENGIL Group and NOVO BANCO to acquire 100% of the shares of the Portuguese port management company, TERTIR, and its portfolio of port terminals and forwarder / support services businesses located across Europe and Latin America.
TERTIR is a market leader and a referenced strategic partner in Portugal occupying a prominent position in port terminal operations. TERTIR’s portfolio is comprised of ten port terminals in total: seven of which are in Portugal, two in Spain and one in Peru. TERTIR’s eight container terminals have an annual handling capacity of 2.7 million TEUs and the two break bulk and grain terminals have an annual capacity of approximately 4.5 million tons.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of this year and is subject to certain conditions precedent, including relevant regulatory approvals.
The port terminals in Portugal include the concessionaires Liscont and Sotagus, in the Port of Lisbon; TCL in the Port of Leixões (Oporto); Socarpor in Aveiro with two concessions; Sadoport and Tersado in Setúbal and a Liscont operation in Figueira da Foz. The port terminals in Spain include the Ferrol Container Terminal in Galicia and Concasa in Huelva, Andalucía. As a result of this investment, YILPORT will also own a 50% share of the Terminales Portuarios Euroandinos in Port the of Paita, Peru, the second largest port in terms of container movements and the main port in the north of the country.
The transaction is also the largest investment ever by a Turkish company into Portugal.
Upon announcement of the acquisition, YILPORT Holding’s Chairman, Mr. Robert Yuksel YILDIRIM commented: “Since entering the port operation and management business in 2005, YILPORT has become a global port terminal operator and continues to make steady progress in this sector. As a result of its investments in Turkey and abroad in recent years, YILPORT Holding has become the foremost Port Operating Company in Turkey and the only Turkish company to be included in the Top 20 International Container Terminal Operators.”
Following the completion of this acquisition, YILPORT Holding will reach a total annual container handling capacity of 10 million TEUs and an annual dry bulk handling capacity of 22 million tons, whilst maintaining its current capacities for liquid cargo and Ro-Ro operations.
As a result of this acquisition, YILPORT is now expected to be ranked amongst the world’s top 20 International Container Terminal Operators. As a company with an impressive growth trend in the global ports arena, YILPORT will not only retain its position as the first and only Turkish company to enter this list; but is ideally positioned to continue its steady growth over the next 10 years to become one of the Top 10 International Port Terminal Operators in the world.
This acquisition will increase YILPORT’s Global Port Terminal Network to 17 operations across 7 countries throughout Europe and Latin America.
TERTIR represents an important strategic move for YILPORT, being the market leader in Portugal and a referenced strategic partner in the Portuguese economy, whilst also occupying an outstanding position in port terminal operations influential to both the North and South Atlantic trading routes.
Portugal, the most western country in Europe, has enormous potential to benefit from the anticipated increase in trade via the Panama Canal and YILPORT considers that the important geo-political relations of the country with Africa and Latin America will generate significant future business opportunities.
Going forward, YILPORT plans to reinforce its commitment and investment in TERTIR’s port terminals in order to increase its competitiveness, inducing higher levels of container movements and business flow.
YILDIRIM GROUP has been advised on the transaction by VTB Capital, Banco Finantia and Erdem & Erdem Law Office.