Bahrain’s Transport Ministry told Reuters on 26 May that an initial public offering (IPO) is planned of shares in the kingdom’s Khalifa bin Salman Port, a privately operated container and general cargo terminal.

It would be Bahrain’s first big IPO since 2010, Reuters said.

The port has capacity to handle about 1 million 20-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) a year. It is operated by APM Terminals in a 25-year concession. The Dutch company also owns 80 per cent of the port’s equity.

The port’s concession agreement allows APM to convert the company that owns it from a closed joint stock company to an open joint stock company after five years from the start of operations.

Reuters reported a Bahrain Transport Ministry spokesman as saying that “[this] is purely an implementation of the agreement with the port operator”.