HPH Trust Acquires Major Stake in Huizhou Terminal
Hong Kong Container port business trust Hutchison Port Holdings Trust (HPH Trust) has reached an agreement to purchase a majority stake in Huizhou International Container Terminals Limited (HICT) in Guangdong from the trust’s sponsor for about $86.26m.
HPH Trust will acquire 65% and 15% of HITC equity interest, respectively through its subsidiaries, Yantian International Container Terminals (Phase III) Limited (YICT III) and Shenzhen Pingyan Multimodal Company Limited (PML).
The company said that, upon completion of the acquisition, HICT will be jointly held by YICT III, Huizhou Port Group (HPG) and PML in the proportions of 65%, 20% and 15%.
The acquisition will be funded from the internal resources of YICT III and PML, and is not expected to have any material impact on the financial position of HPH Trust for the current financial year ending December 31, 2016.
Business Times quoted the trust manager saying that it expects construction of two 50,000-tonne container berths in the Huizhou port to be completed by the end of 2016, and that it believes the Huizhou terminals “will be able to attract more cargoes, in particular intra-Asia cargoes due to its strategic position”.