BREAKING: Bahrain seeks firms for port IPO

20 March 2018
Port operator aims to list shares with Bahrain Bourse in the fourth quarter of the year

APM Terminals Bahrain expects to appoint a team of financial and legal advisers soon for its plan to offer up to 20 per cent of the total equity of Khalifa bin Salman Port (KBSP) to the public.

KBSP CEO and managing director Mark Hardiman confirmed the plan to list the port’s shares with Bahrain Bourse by the fourth quarter of 2018 in an interview with an industry publication.

MEED understands the port operator is consulting with Bahrain’s Transportation and Telecommunications Ministry’s Port and Maritime Affairs division with regard to the regulatory aspects of the proposed transaction.

An initial public offering (IPO) was embedded in the 25-year concession agreement signed between the Bahraini government and the port operator in 2009.

An IPO was first announced in 2014, but was deferred due to market uncertainty.

KBSP is a joint venture of Netherlands-based APM Terminals and local firm YBA Kanoo Holdings. APM Terminals has an 80 per cent shareholding in the port, with the local partner accounting for the rest.

Hardiman said the 20 per cent equity stake to be offered to the public will be divested proportionally by the existing investors, which means APM Terminals’ shares will be reduced to 64 per cent and Yba Kanoo’s to 16 per cent following the planned listing.

MEED understands cargo volumes at KBSP grew 21 per cent, while container volumes increased by 7 per cent in 2017.

Hardiman attributed the growths to ongoing infrastructure projects such as the expansion of Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), Banagas and state utility Electricity and Water Authority (EWA).

The port opened in 2009 and is designed to handle up to 1.1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of container annually. The port can also hold general break-bulk and roll-on/roll-off cargo.

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