Yilport to invest US$1.62b in El Salvador ports
NewsYilport Holding plans to invest $1.62 billion to expand and jointly operate two Salvadoran ports, as part of President Bukele’s economic revitalisation plan.
While Yilport is currently viewed as a second-tier global terminal operator (GTO), albeit the leading operator of container terminals in Turkey, Robert Yuksel Yildirim, the company’s chairman and CEO, has an ambitious and global business plan.
His aim is to position Yilport as a “top 10” GTO by 2025, and he plans to spend up to US$200M a year on achieving this. Recently, the group acquired the remaining shares (20%) it did not already own in the Gävle Container Terminal in Sweden. The move also gives Yilport control of Baltic Sea Gateway, a company controlled by the city and which serves all cargo sectors in the port.
The rest of the year could see even bigger deals concluded. Yildirim is keen to establish a presence in the North American market, and appears to be in a good position to acquire a majority shareholding in Ports America Holdings. This company has been put up for sale by Highstar Capital, a unit of Oaktree Capital Management. It is the largest operator of ports in the US, with interests in more than 40 facilities.
With a valuation for Ports America likely to be in the US$2B-$2.5B range, WorldCargo News understands that Yildirim is discussing funding and partnership options for any such deal with a number of pension/infrastructure funds. It should be noted that CPP, one of Canada’s largest pension funds, already holds a 10% equity stake in Ports America.
At a corporate level, Yildirim would also like a sovereign or infrastructure fund to be involved. He is prepared to sell 20-30% of Yilport itself, believing this would give the group a more stable financial platform from which to expand.
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This complete item is approximately 300 words in length, and appeared in the May 2016 issue of WorldCargo News, on page 45. To access this issue download the PDF here.
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