Hapag-Lloyd on Wednesday signed a binding agreement to acquire a 35% stake in J M Baxi Ports & Logistics Ltd. (JMBPL), a private terminal and inland transport service provider in India.
The seller is a Bain Capital Private Equity affiliate, Hapag-Lloyd said. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“Additionally, Hapag-Lloyd AG signed a binding agreement with JMBPL and its promoters, the Kotak family, to subscribe to a capital increase by the company and raise Hapag-Loyd’s shareholding to 40%,” the announcement said.
Hapag-Lloyd said JMBPL’s operations include container terminals, a multipurpose terminal, inland container depots, container freight stations and logistics offerings such as rail services. The company employs about 5,400 and handles about 1.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units annually.
“Terminal and infrastructure investments are a crucial element of our strategic agenda and India is one of our key growth markets,” Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said. “Acquiring a significant share in J M Baxi Ports & Logistics Ltd. will significantly boost our presence in India with a trusted local partner, and it is another important step to build up our terminal and infrastructure business.”
The German ocean shipping company has been expanding its terminal holdings as part of its Strategy 2023. In October, Hapag-Lloyd announced it was making its first investment in the Amerias through the $1 billion acquisition of the marine terminal and logistics businesses of Chile-based SM SAAM S.A. SAAM has terminals in Antofagasta, Corral, Iquique, San Antonio and San Vicente, Chile; Cartagena, Colombia; Caldera, Costa Rica; Guayaquil, Ecuador; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and Mazatlan, Mexico.
In September, Hapag-Lloyd said it was acquiring a 49% stake in Italian logistics company Spinelli Group. Headquartered at the Port of Genoa and with locations throughout Italy, Spinelli Group manages the “logistics chain of containers from the port docks to the final recipient: disembarkation, embarkation, cargo handling and container operations within the port terminals, truck and intermodal transport, warehousing, repair, container trading services and services that cover the entire cycle of assistance for goods, ships, crews and passengers,” according to its website.
Hapag-Lloyd also has stakes in Germany’s JadeWeserPort in Wilhelmshaven and Container Terminal Altenwerder in Hamburg, Terminal TC3 in Tangier, Morocco, and Terminal 2 in Damietta, Egypt, which is currently under construction.
Hapag-Lloyd said the closing of the JMBPL transactions is subject to approval by relevant authorities.
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