Cosco to sell 20pc stake in Nansha II to Danish operator

Cosco Pacific will agree to sell 20 per cent of its stake in the four billion yuan second phase at the port of Nansha this week to APM Terminals, giving south China's newest container port a much needed foreign investor and new business potential.

Guangzhou mayor Zhang Guangning is leading a delegation to Copenhagen tomorrow to sign a memorandum of understanding that will give the Danish port operator a 20 per cent stake in Cosco's subsidiary, Cosco Ports Nansha, the 56 per cent owner of phase two.

The deal will give APM Terminals, a wholly owned subsidiary of the giant AP Moller Group, an effective 11.2 per cent interest in the six-berth second phase, a stake that could be worth as much as $430 million, based on the facility's 4.01 billion yuan development cost.

APM Terminals is the sister firm of the world's biggest shipping line, Maersk Sealand, which in south China calls at Yantian International Container Terminals, where it owns a minority interest.

Yantian is Shenzhen's biggest port by volume and is minority owned and managed by a division of Hutchison Whampoa. It is understood that Hutchison was also offered a stake in Phase II but has yet to respond to the offer.

Company sources in Hong Kong would not comment yesterday.

In Hong Kong, Maersk calls at Modern Terminals Ltd (MTL). It is unclear what the acquisition would mean for Maersk's future commitments to MTL and Yantian.