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APM Terminals completes Grup Maritim TCB acquisition

APM Terminals completes Grup Maritim TCB acquisition
APM Terminals has completed its $1bn acquisition of Spanish Grup Maritim TCB’s port and rail interests, adding 7% its global volumes.

Amounting to 2m teu, the acquisition adds eight ports and 7% throughput to APM Terminals portfolio, with newly-acquired capacity at Barcelona, Valencia and Castellon, on the Mediterranean coast, along with the concessions in Gijon, on the Bay of Biscay.

Outside of Spain, Grup Maritim TCB’s terminal operations include Yucatan, Mexico; Quetzal, Guatemala, due to open this year; Buenaventura, Colombia, on the Pacific Coast; and Paranagua, Brazil. The group plans to spend a further $400m on upgrades in the next five years.The development comes after APM Terminals reached an agreement with Spanish-based Perez y Cia to acquire their 61% majority stake in Grup Maritim TCB in September last year.

The decision was made to move ahead despite the fact that approval has yet to be given for the acquisition of three of Grup Maritim TCB’s 11 terminals, since these comprise less than 5% of the value of the acquisition, Joe Nicklaus Nielsen, APM Terminals vp for port investments, explained.

“We are continuing to pursue the acquisition of TCB’s Turkish and Canary Island terminals and are confident we will be able to provide satisfactory responses to the regulators’ questions in Turkey in due course,” said Nielsen.

“However, as these assets make up less than 5% of the value of the acquisition, we have decided to move ahead with the acquisition to capitalize on the significant momentum we have been building towards the closure of the deal.”

“The acquisition expands our position in Spain and accelerates our growth in Latin America,” said APM Terminals ceo Kim Fejfer. “While growth in Latin America has slowed overall, Colombia, Mexico and Guatemala are outperforming the rest of the continent and we believe offer exciting short and medium term opportunities.”