Hamburg's HHLA group made a stock market splash late last week as the second biggest European port operator raised cash from investors to keep up with the rapidly expanding global shipping industry.
Hamburger Hafen und Logistik shares jumped by 16.8 percent to 61.95 euros on their first day of trading, up from the price of 53 euros set for second biggest initial public offer in Germany this year after engine maker Tognum raised almost 2.0 billion euros earlier. HHLA made some 1.17 billion euros (1.69 billion dollars) from the listing of about 30 percent of its capital, with the funds earmarked for investment in container terminal operations and other port upgrades.
"The success of our market entry confirms investor interest in our company and our business model," an HHLA statement quoted chief executive Klaus-Dieter Peters as saying.
The city-state of Hamburg owns HHLA which also manages ports in northern Luebeck and Odessa, Ukraine.
Institutional investors bought most of the available stock but individuals and HHLA staff got about 20 percent, with the company taking measures to ensure that no single entity obtained a stake that would allow it to block decisions.
Hamburg had hesitated before going to market with its port, the second biggest in Europe after Rotterdam and one of the 10 biggest worldwide.
It had considered selling 49.9 percent to an institutional investor at one point but backtracked owing to stiff opposition from dockers who threatened to stop work.
In the end, the port, which employs around 4,200 workers, needed cash to refurbish its 125-year-old facilities to keep pace with thriving maritime traffic that now accounts for three-quarters of all global transport.
Along with others, Hamburg has benefitted from the growth in global trade, and in particular from the economic boom in China that requires increasing amounts of raw material imports.
HHLA plans to invest nearly 3.0 billion euros by 2015 in container shipping, land links, logistics and buildings.
Hamburg has the advantage of being the main port for Germany's export-led economy as well as a bridge for container shipping between China, eastern Europe and the Baltic Sea region.
Last year, HHLA posted more than a billion euros in turnover for the first time and a net profit of 117 million euros.
It is not the only port to turn to financial markets for development funds.
Dubai Ports World, which runs 42 sites around the world, is expected to list 20 percent of its capital this month in an operation that should earn around 3.0 billion euros.
The biggest private Indian port, Mundra Port, also plans a listing, as does Russia's Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port, in London.
The Russian operator has said that the sale of global depositary receipts should give it a market capitalisation of about 4.9 billion dollars (3.4 billion euros).
Located on the Black Sea, Novorossiysk handles large shipments of crude oil.
In Africa, French investment group Bollore has begun talks with officials in the port of Cotonou, Benin, with a view to taking over container operations there.
Bollore vice president Michel Roussin has said his company could invest more than 30 million euros to upgrade the port, which provides transit facilities for goods heading for Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad.
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