The Turkish group Yildirim will now lead the hinterland activity of ports in Portugal, following the completion of the purchase of port concessions from the Tertir group and the logistics company Transitex, a deal structured by Banco Finantia worth 300 million euros (equivalent to 553 million euros on an Enterprise Value (100%) basis).
Tertir's eight container terminals have an annual container handling capacity of 2,7 million TEUs, while the remaining two terminals for breakbulk and bulk cargo have an annual capacity of approximately 4,5 million tons. “ This transaction represents the largest investment ever made by a Turkish company in Portugal and the largest foreign investment ever in port activity in Portugal, ” emphasizes Gonçalo Botelho, vice-president of the executive committee of Banco Finantia and the main person responsible for the transaction. “ It is the intention of the Yildirim Group to further strengthen its commitment to investment in Portuguese ports in the future in order to increase their activity, competitiveness and business flow ,” he adds.
The agreement, initially reached in September 2015 between the Turkish Yildirim group, Mota-Engil and Novo Banco, was only now made possible because it was necessary to obtain approval from the Competition Authority and carry out some corporate reorganization operations.
With this transaction, the Yildirim Group added ten port terminals to its port business portfolio (Yilport): seven located in Portugal, two in Spain, and one in Peru. Yilport now has a total annual container handling capacity of 10 million TEUs and an annual solid bulk handling capacity of 22 million tons, maintaining its current liquid cargo and Ro-Ro capacity, and is expected to rank among the top 10 container terminal operators worldwide.
Portugal, as the westernmost country in Europe, has enormous potential to benefit from the projected increase in trade through the Panama Canal, and Yilport also values the important geopolitical relationships the country has with Africa and Latin America.
