"Сумма" привлечет CMHI к строительству порта Зарубино

The Summa Group has reached an agreement with the China Merchants Holding International (CMHI), which is co-owned by a Chinese state-owned China Merchants Group and Goldman Sachs, on the joint construction of Big Port Zarubino in Primorsky Krai, said the Summa Group owner Ziyavudin Magomedov.

 

In an earlier interview with RIA Novosti, Mr. Magomedov did not exclude the fact that Chinese companies might buy into the share capital of the project. This port, with a total capacity of 100 million tons of cargo annually, will include a grain terminal with a capacity of 40 million tons, a container terminal with a capacity of up to 2 million TEU, Ro-Ro freight terminal with the annual cargo capacity of 1.5 million units, a terminal for transshipment of general cargo (over 25 million tons) and several others.

 

Mr. Magomedov told the Kommersant newspaper that on Monday the parties signed an agreement of intent, under which the Chinese company CMHI will become a minority shareholder in the port. Magomedov did not specify how the transaction will be structured nor the amount of the shares that CMHI will purchase, noting only that the legal form of the transaction will be determined during the next three months. In addition, CMHI will provide the port with a cargo base and act as a co-investor, said the owner of Summa, without mentioning the size of this investment. This transaction still needs to gain the approval of the government, he added.

 

The CMHI Company was founded in Hong Kong in 1992 and is the largest asset owned by the state-owned China Merchants Group (controlling 55% of the shares, with the other 45% belonging to Goldman Sachs). CMHI is present in seven of the ten largest container ports in China.

 

The cost of this project, taking into account the rail and road infrastructure and the “dry port” in the border city of Hunchun, is estimated at $3-3.5 billion.

 

According to Mr. Magomedov, they are planning to start the design work in February 2015, with the Summa providing $1-1.2 billion of its own money. In his interview with RIA Novosti, Mr. Magomedov did not exclude the possibility that the group may apply to the Russian National Wealth Fund for a 46 billion ruble grant to finance the port of Zarubino.