APM Terminals (APMT) and its local partner YBA Kanoo Holdings are planning an initial public offering (IPO) of Bahrain’s Khalifa Bin Salman Port, which they co-own, in early 2016.
Shares equivalent to a 20% equity stake in the port will be offered on the Bahrain Stock Exchange next year, said Peder Sondegaard, CEO of APMT’s Africa and Middle East region.
No pricing has yet been finalised, nor has the target.
APMT currently has 80% ownership of the facility, with Kanoo holding 20%. The share offering will dilute APMT’s stake to 64% and its partner’s stake to 16%.
The IPO was written into the concession agreement signed in 2006 by the partners, which began by taking over the old port that year. The 25-year concession period began in 2009, when the new port opened. It became fully operational in April 2010.
The offering aims to give back a stake in the facility, which is designed to handle 1m teu per annum, to the Bahranian public.
The port itself handles mainly containers but is a multipurpose facility, which serves both domestic cargo and acts as a transshipment hub for Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and parts of Iran and Iraq.
