China Merchants Port has acquired an increased stake in Shanghai port operator – Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG).
The company has acquired an aggregate of 328,750,659 SIPG shares through on-market purchases on the Shanghai Stock Exchange at the average price of RMB5.76 ($0.90) per share for an aggregate consideration of RM1.89 billion ($295.05 million).
China Merchants Port was initially interested in taking on 6,202,562,186 of the shares in SIPG, representing 26.64 per cent of the total capital of the company.
Upon the settlement of the acquisitions, it has expressed its interest in 6,531,312,845 of the shares, representing 28.06 of SIPG.
“The directors having considered the market conditions, the financial performance, and the prospects of SIPG, are of the view that the acquisitions presented a good opportunity for the group to increase its shareholding in SIPG and utilise its available funds for a return,” said China Merchants Port in a statement.
“As the Acquisitions were made at market price and on the open market of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the Directors considered that the terms of the Acquisitions are fair and reasonable, on normal commercial terms and in the interests of the Company and its shareholders as a whole.”
In July last year, SIPG launched its smart command and control center project, with support from its Shangdong Branch, NeZha Technology, and Huawei.
This was the first project in the world to apply optical networking technology for centralised remote control in ports – marking a major breakthrough in the operation of next-generation smart ports.
