Port operator APM Terminals, a unit of Denmark's A P Moller-Maersk, said it would sell a big US container terminal to infrastructure investor Alinda Capital Partners and a British private pension fund.
The companies did not disclose the price that Alinda and Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited will pay for APM Terminals Virginia, the deep-water terminal in Portsmouth, Virginia, reported Reuters.
The terminal, which APM describes on its website as the largest privately owned terminal in North America, was commissioned in 2007 at a cost of US$540 million and later leased to the Virginia Port Authority.
"Ownership of this terminal does not fit with our global strategy and ambition to operate and develop ports," APM chief financial officer Christian Moller Laursen said. "We have chosen to sell our Portsmouth terminal because we are a non-operating lessor."
Lloyd's List, citing a source familiar with the deal, said the buyers planned to raise $450 million through a private placement of a bond later this week to help fund the deal.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of this year, and staff at the facility will not be affected, the statement said.
APM Terminals operates 65 port and terminal facilities in 39 countries.
Its chief executive, Kim Fejfer, said last year it was investing in fast-growing regions such as Russia and Africa to compensate for a lack of growth in mature markets.
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