After the integration of China's two largest shipping giants, COSCO Maritime Holding Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as COSCO 601919. SH) is accelerating the global port business layout of COSCO Maritime Port (01199. HK), which is engaged in port handling and storage business.
COSCO Maritime Port has acquired many rights and interests of ports along important shipping routes in Europe in recent years through the acquisition of operation rights and equity rights. With the opportunity of re-combing the internal assets structure of Danish Maersky Group, COSCO Maritime Port entered Zebuluh again in mid-September.
Holding Belgian Port
COSCO Maritime Port announced on September 11 that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Zhonghai Wharf, and APM Terminals B.V., had signed a legally binding memorandum of understanding to buy 76% of the issued equity of its Belgian port operator, Maersk Zebruch Wharf (hereinafter referred to as APMTZ), at a price of 35 million.
Zebuluh Port is one of the four deepwater ports on the North Sea coast of the Continent of Europe. It is the largest gas transshipment port and liquefied gas import port in Europe. It is also the sixth largest container port in Europe. Zebuluh Wharf Company is one of the container terminals in Zebuluh Port. Its front water depth is - 15.2 meters, its shoreline length is 900 meters, its stacking area is 450,000 square meters, and it is equipped with seven super Panamanian bridge cranes with design capacity of 850,000 TEU/year.
As far as Chinese enterprises are concerned, Zebuluh Port is not a "new friend". As early as 2010, Shanghai International Port Group (hereinafter referred to as Shanghai Port Group) has acquired 25% of APMTZ, becoming the second largest shareholder in the port. COSCO's 24% stake in the port was acquired from APMTZ in 2013.
Under the new merger and acquisition plan, Maersk Wharf will first acquire its shares from Shanghai Port Group, and then sell the shares held by Shanghai Port Group together with the shares currently held by Maersk Wharf to China Sea Port or its affiliates. After the acquisition, APMTZ will become an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary company of COSCO Maritime Port. The financial statements will be incorporated into the comprehensive financial statements of COSCO Maritime Port.
It is worth noting that Shanghai Group acquired a quarter of APMTZ for 21.76 million Euros seven years ago, but this time, it may only cost 35 million Euros to acquire more than three quarters of APMTZ, at least at a reasonable price.
On the one hand, it may benefit from the internal adjustment of Maersk Group, on the other hand, it is related to the long-term in-depth cooperation between Chinese-funded enterprises and Maersk Wharf Company.
Maersk Wharf has cooperated with Shanghai Port Group for many years. As early as 2002, the two sides established a joint venture company, Shanghai Hudong Container Wharf Co., Ltd.
The second quarter of 2017 financial report released by Maersk last month showed that although its maritime and logistics business sector was significantly boosted by the rebound in cargo volume, the terminal business was not optimistic. Maersk lost $100 million in the second quarter of this year, compared with a profit of $112 million in the same period last year. Maersk Group believes that this result is mainly due to the challenges faced by the wharf in commercial operation and the impairment of some wharf assets.
To offset this impact, Maersk has sold some of its assets. For a company that is extremely sensitive to the profitability of its business sector and is particularly proactive, further sales of assets that are a drag on performance in such a situation are also in line with its usual style.
In late August, Maersk sold its Maersk oil to energy giant Doddle for $7.45 billion, which also showed that the company dared to adopt seemingly radical measures to cope with changes in its own and external environment, so it was no surprise that it would give up port management rights at a low price.
As far as COSCO's maritime ports are concerned, holding APMTZ can create a high-quality and balanced global wharf network, strengthen its wharf control and management capabilities, optimize the network layout of Northwest European routes and open up new market growth points. This will bring more benefits to the operation of COSCO's fleet and the cooperation of the alliance business.
Overseas Port Layout
Zebuluh Port is only one step in COSCO's global terminal business layout. Before the integration of COSCO and COSCO, two of China's largest shipping giants, the two sides had consciously begun to acquire port equity, operation rights and wharf management company equity, which is also the business model of the world's top shipping giants.
COSCO Maritime Port has formulated three strategies for promoting the layout of global terminals, exerting synergies and strengthening control.
After the completion of integration and reorganization of business, port business has also become a key link in COSCO's maritime logistics business, and the speed of mergers and acquisitions has obviously improved.
In May this year, COSCO completed the acquisition of about 17% of the shares of Qingdao Port (06198.HK), an important port in northern China. At present, it holds nearly 19% of the shares of Qingdao Port together with its Zhonghai Wharf. At the same time, it has completed a series of mergers and acquisitions of port resources such as Greece's Piraeus Port, Abu Dhabi's Harifa Port, Rotterdam Port and Italy's Vado Container Terminal.
In June, COSCO acquired a 15% stake in Shanghai Port Group for 18.9 billion yuan and a 51% stake in Noatum Port Holdings (NPH), Spain's largest terminal operator, for 200 million euros. NPH's main assets include two container terminals, Valencia