CMA CGM to sell majority stake in LA terminal

The French ocean carrier will sell a 90 percent equity interest in the Global Gateway South terminal at the Port of Los Angeles to EQT Infrastructure III for $817 million.    French ocean carrier CMA CGM will sell a 90 percent equity interest in the Global Gateway South (GGS) terminal at the Port of Los Angeles to EQT Infrastructure III for $817 million.
   CMA CGM signed the binding agreement with EQT Infrastructure and its partner P5 Infrastructure on Friday, the carrier said.
   “CMA CGM will receive a cash consideration of $817 million to be paid at closing,” the carrier said. “Transaction terms also provide for the group to receive additional deferred, contingent cash consideration of which sequence and quantum will depend of GGS’ future operating and financial performance.”
   Once the transaction closes, CMA CGM will retain a 10 percent interest in the GGS terminal, which it acquired last year as part of its acquisition of Singapore’s Neptune Orient Lines (NOL).
   CMA CGM said last year that it intended on performing “a strategic review encompassing both the NOL Group and the current CMA CGM Group with a view to deleveraging the combined Group further to the offer with the objective to sell assets in the aggregate amount of at least $1 billion.”
   CMA CGM will remain a major user of the terminal with “preferential conditions.”
   The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2017, and is subject to anti-trust and regulatory approvals, including clearance from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
   Spanning nearly 300 acres, the GGS terminal features a total berth length of 4,000 feet with an average depth of 50 feet, according to stevedore Eagle Marine Services. The terminal is equipped with 12 post-Panamax and four super post-Panamax container cranes, and offers on-dock rail, which is accessible by Union Pacific and BNSF.