DP World confirmed its interest in acquiring shares of Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port (NCSP) in Russia, together with its partner, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), announced Russian news agency TASS last week quoting DP World Group Chairman and CEO, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem.

“Novorossiysk is very interesting. Today we are more interested in brownfield projects, not greenfields, as we know we can make the already operating port more efficient. This deal is rather complicated due to a large number of participants, but we are on a right track, – said Bin Sulayem. – We have to wait for the government’s approval. As soon as it happens, we will be ready to invest.”

He reminded that the total investments in Russian port infrastructure through the JV with RDIF may reach up to USD 2 bln.

NCSP is a group of 10 specialized stevedoring companies operating in the Russian ports of Black and Baltic Seas. It includes Russia’s two largest ports by cargo turnover — Novorossiysk on the Black Sea, handling oil, grain, containers and Primorsk on the Baltic Sea, handling oil. The Group’s throughput in 10 months 2016 was 122.5 mln tons (+5.7% 
y-o-y).

The Russian state controls 20% of NCSP and has been planning to sell this share for a number of years, keeping investors alert all the time. Finally, it seems the privatization will materialize. In October this year the Russian government announces that NCSP is included in the privatization plan for 2017-2019. Later, Sberbank CIB (corporate investment branch of Russian state bank Sberbank) was selected as an investment consultant for the privatization process.

Other shareholders of NCSP include Summa Group and Transneft (50.1% jointly), Transneft’s subsidiary – Transneft-Service (10.5%) and Russian Railways (5.3%).

Last week Deputy Minister of Russian Transport Victor Olerskiy named DP World and RDIF as potential candidates for the state’s share in NCSP. He noted that other Russian port operators Summa Group and Delo Group are also interested in this asset.