Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Whampoa is to become the largest port operator in Europe when it and other investors take over Rotterdam's European Combined Terminals (ECT), one of the busiest ports in the world.
Royal Pakhoed, the Dutch shipping group which owns a 30.56 per cent stake in ECT, yesterday said the 680 million guilder (about HK$2.77 billion) deal should be completed within the next few months, once regulatory hurdles were cleared.
Under the terms of the acquisition, Hutchison's main port-operating arm, Hutchison Port Holdings, will take a 50 per cent stake, with the rest taken by a consortium of Dutch companies, including Rotterdam Municipal Port Management, PARNIB - a wholly owned subsidiary of Nationale Investeringsbank - and other Dutch finance companies.
'The agreement is in place, but it has to be approved,' said a spokesman for Royal Pakhoed, which controls ECT along with Internatio-Mueller, Royal Nedlloyd and Dutch railway company NS Groep.
The spokesman said there appeared to be no reason the deal would not get regulatory approval. It was under review by the Committee for Merger Affairs of the Netherlands' Social and Economic Council, and relevant trade unions.
ECT's Works Council had also been asked to give advice, and the European Commissions Merger Task Force was being notified.