ICTSI offers to buy out Singapore firm

MANILA, Philippines -  International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) has offered to buy all the shares of Portek International Ltd., a Singapore-based investment holding company that operates medium-sized container and multipurpose ports, for approximately $146 million.

ICTSI, through wholly-owned unit ICTSI Far East Pte. Ltd., already owns around 4.82 percent of Portek. It has made a voluntary conditional cash offer to acquire each share for S$1.20, which represents a 69 percent premium on Portek’s closing share price of S$0.710.

ICTSI said the offer is in line with its strategy to expand its existing network of port concessions.

Portek is a turnkey provider of equipment, services and solutions to ports globally and an operator of container terminals of up to 350,000 twenty-feet equivalent units (TEU) and multi-purpose ports.

Its terminal operations portfolio includes seven container and multi-purpose terminals in Indonesia, Algeria, Malta and Gabon.

Portek has also recently entered into sales and purchase agreements to acquire a 60 percent stake in an inland cargo handling facility in Rwanda.

Meanwhile, ICTSI, its subsidiaries and associated companies, own or operate a total of 22 terminal facilities, six in the Philippines and one each in China, Ecuador, Poland, Brazil, Madagascar, Syria, Georgia, Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, India, Colombia, Argentina, Croatia, Mexico and the US, of which four (the terminals in India, Colombia, Argentina and Mexico) are currently under construction.

The company operates terminals of up to 350,000 TEU. 

If it succeeds in taking over Portek, ICTSI Far East will be able to draw upon ICTSI’s financial resources and existing market scale to successfully execute its organic and geographical expansion.