ANKARA: CVC Capital Partners and China Merchants Holdings International Co. are competing to buy a stake in Turkey’s container terminal Kumport, three people with knowledge of the situation said.
Oman’s finance ministry, which owns the stake in Kumport Liman Isletmeleri AS, is in talks with bidders over a sale of about 36 percent of Kumport, which may value the entire company at about $1.1 billion, said the people, who asked not to be named because the talks are private. An agreement with a buyer could be signed as early as the end of June, the people said.
Representatives for Kumport and CVC declined to comment. China Merchants’ investor relations department and a spokeswoman for the Oman finance ministry didn’t immediately respond to e-mails seeking comment on Tuesday.
Oman finance ministry hired Morgan Stanley to sell the Kumport stake, people with knowledge of the matter said in April. Fiba Holding, owned by Turkish billionaire Husnu Ozyegin, owns the remainder of the port operator and may also sell a stake without losing management control, three of the people said at the time.
Kumport had an annual capacity of 1.7 million TEUs of container traffic as of 2011, according to its website.
