APM Terminals (APMT) has reached an agreement with joint-venture partner Aarhus Service Holding for the purchase of the remaining 40% of the existing APMT-Aarhus A/S facility, strategically-located on the Jutland Peninsula, based in Denmark’s busiest port.
The current business entity and ownership structure was created in August 2010, when APMT Aarhus and Cargo Service A/S (subsidiary to Aarhus Service Holding A/S) combined their adjacent facilities in a 60/40 joint venture now operating as APMT-Aarhus A/S, in which APMT is the majority shareholder.
The transaction will give APMT full ownership of the facility, however, the purchase price was not disclosed.
Joe Nicklaus Nielsen, Vice President and Head of Port Investments for APMT, said: “This acquisition reflects our confidence in the Danish market and our goal to expand our Scandinavia profile.”
With a depth of 15 metres, four super post-Panamax cranes and three post-Panamax cranes, APMT Aarhus A/S is able to accommodate Ultra-Large Container Ships (ULCS) and feeder vessels alike.
Technical Paper: Port Investment: The Rise of the Big Financial Players
Søren Halsted, Chairman of Aarhus Service Holding A/S, said: “After a successful co-ownership of APMT–Aarhus, it is pleasing for us to sell our shares to our business partner.
“This is the last part in the divestment of our port activities, and the sale marks the end to the Lehmann family’s involvement in the Danish transport industry – an involvement dating back to 1900.”
The last majority owner of Aarhus Service Holding A/S is lawyer and businessman Andreas Lehmann who lives in London. C.P. Dyvig & Co. A/S is co-investor in Aarhus Service Holding A/S.
Fact File: The Port of Aarhus is close to the industrial centre of Western Denmark, and is Denmark’s second-largest city by population. Container throughput at Aarhus has grown consistently over the past four years by an aggregate total of 11% from 399,000 TEU in 2012 to 442,000 TEU in 2015, while many other European gateway ports have seen traffic stagnate or decline.
