Macquarie agrees US$1.3b sale of Poland's Gdansk port terminal

[WARSAW] A consortium of investors including Poland's sovereign wealth fund PFR has agreed to buy the country's largest container terminal in Gdansk from the infrastructure fund of Australia's Macquarie in a deal worth more than US$1.3 billion, the companies said on Tuesday.

Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has said the country was too dependent on foreign investors, who bought into the country in the 1990s and 2000s, and the deal means a state entity will take a stake in a strategic asset.

"We are convinced that the consortium we have created...guarantees the development of this port in the coming decades," PFR Chief Executive Pawel Borys told reporters.

The consortium buying the port includes global port group PSA International and fund manager IFM Investors, in addition to PFR.

IFM Investors and PFR will each hold 30 per cent of the port, while PSA will hold 40 per cent, Mr Borys said.

Mr Borys said the consortium was working together with eight banks who were providing long term financing for the transaction and later investments.

The container terminal had a capacity of 1.9 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in 2018.

Macquarie launched a sale of the terminal, which sources said in December could be valued at around US$1.7 billion, last year with the help of Goldman Sachs.

AFP