COSCO TRANSFERS STAKE IN SHEKOU TERMINAL TO AFFILIATE

COSCO TRANSFERS STAKE IN SHEKOU TERMINAL TO AFFILIATE    The China Ocean Shipping Co. group announced that it plans to transfer a 17.5-percent stake in Shekou Container Terminals Ltd., an equity port joint venture based in southern China, to its affiliate COSCO Pacific Ltd.
   COSCO Pacific is the Hong Kong-based port and container leasing arm of the Beijing-based COSCO group.
   COSCO Pacific said that it has agreed to acquire the COSCO group’s stake in the Shekou port business for HK$156 million ($20 million). Shekou Container Terminals is a major container terminal operator in the booming Chinese port of Shekou. The other shareholders in the container terminal joint venture are China Merchants (32.5 percent), the P&O group (25 percent) and Swire (25 percent).
   “The board is of the view that the acquisition represents an excellent opportunity for the company to further expand its container terminal business in the Shenzhen special economic zone, where throughput growth has been strong,” COSCO Pacific said.
   Completion of the acquisition by COSCO Pacific is subject to approval by the Chinese authorities and to the agreement of the other joint venture shareholders.