Dünya – Chinese state-owned shipping and logistics company COSCO Pacific, teaming up with China Merchants Holdings International and CIC Capital, has acquired a majority stake in Türkiye’s 3rd largest container terminal, Kumport.
The consortium will pay USD 940 million for 65 percent of the shares in Kumport’s owner and operator, Fina Liman, a subsidiary of Fiba Holding. The remaining 35 percent of the shares are owned by Oman sovereign fund, State General Reserve Fund (SGRF), which invested in the port in 2011.
Located on the Ambarli coast of Istanbul, the terminal handles 1.3 million TEU annually, accounting for 16 percent of the container traffic of the country’s total.
The largest foreign direct investment from China to Türkiye to date, the stake acquisition deal will give the Chinese a critical foothold on a strategic trade route and a vital node on the Chinese government’s ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative, a modern interpretation of the ancient ‘Silk Road’.