Yangzijiang buys Odfjell Chinese terminal stake for $46m

The asset offload by Norwegian firm Odfjell is due to its venture partner Lindsay Goldberg’s decision to dispose of its interest in Odfjell’s Asian terminals. Odfjell said it decided to “tag along” on Lindsay Goldberg’s sale of its indirect shareholding in the China terminal.

Odfjell said it expects to make a net proceed of around $21m from the asset sale.

Kristian Mørch, ceo of Odfjell, said: “This divestment is in line with our strategy to grow and focus on chemical terminals in locations where we can harvest synergies with Odfjell Tankers.”

Odfjell Terminals (Jiangyin) Company owns and operates a tank terminal which handles various types of petrochemical products and provides terminal services for petrochemical distribution in the upstream Yangtze River region.

Singapore-listed Yangzijiang stated that the acquisition was “wholly satisfied in cash and was funded by the group’s internal resources.”

While Yangzijiang did not specify the reason for venturing into onshore terminals, its executive chairman Ren Yuanlin is known for steering his company in different directions depending on current and his projections of future market conditions.

Yangzijiang, which maintains its core business in building dry bulk vessels and containerships, has ventured into investment holdings, vessel leasing, micro-financing, rig building and even mining.

Odfjell, meanwhile, has been offloading its stake in terminals in Oman, Singapore and Rotterdam over the past three years.

Following the latest deal, Odfjell continues to operate terminals in Antwerp in Belgium, Charleston and Houston in the US, Ulsan in South Korea, and Dalian and Tianjin in China.