Advent Buys Half of Brazilian Container Terminal

Advent International, a private equity firm specializing in Latin American investment, is acquiring 50 percent of the capital stock of Terminal de Conteineres de Paranagua, Brazil’s third-largest container terminal.

Advent did not disclose the value of the transaction and other financial terms in its announcement Thursday.

All of TCP’s current shareholders – Pattac Empreendimentos e Participacoes, TUC Participacoes Portuarias, Soifer Participacoes Societarias, Grup Maritim TCB, and Galigrain – will retain ownership positions in the company.

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Advent said its investment, which is subject to regulatory approval, will enable TCP to pursue an aggressive expansion plan aimed at increasing its terminal capacity approximately 50 percent through the construction of a third berth starting this year and purchase of new equipment. Grup Maritim TCB, a port terminal owner and operator, which currently supports TCP’s operations, will continue to provide advisory services to the company in this new phase of its development.

Founded in 1998, TCP operates the container terminal at the Port of Paranagua, the second-largest port in Brazil, with current activity of approximately 675,000 20-foot equivalent units annually and a total area of 80 acres. The company maintains a prominent position in international logistics, as it is a port of call for most container ships operating international and cabotage lines along the Brazilian coast. TCP’s services include loading and unloading of ships, bonded warehouses, monitoring of refrigerated containers (reefers) and container stuffing.

Brazil’s container market has grown more than 10 percent per year over the past 12 years and is expected to continue expanding at attractive rates in line with the projected increase in the country's imports and exports. In the first nine months of 2010, Brazil transported 4.1 million TEUs, representing a growth of 14.2 percent compared with the same period of 2009. In the third quarter of 2010, Brazil transported a record 1.5 million TEUs.

Advent’s investment will enable TCP to purchase new equipment for the terminal, including three new Post-Panamax “portainers” (ship-to-shore container cranes that can be used with large ships) and a diverse range of equipment such as “transtainers” (container yard cranes) and trucks to increase the terminal’s retro-area capacity. One of the portainers is in final testing and should begin operation in the next few weeks, with the other two expected to start later this year. After these investments, terminal capacity should increase from the current 700,000 TEUs per year to more than 1.1 million TEUs annually.

-- Contact Peter T. Leach at pleach@joc.com.