DP World, one of the world's largest port operators, has entered the Ukrainian market through its subsidiary P&O Maritime, which will provide towing services in the Yuzhny port. SD Capital, which is a co-investor in the deal, announced this to the CFTS portal.
P&O Maritime has acquired control of the Ukrainian towing company LB Shipping. The amount involved in the relevant deal was not disclosed. Andrey Stavnitser, a partner at SD Capital, and the DP World Group’s CEO Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem signed the acquisition agreement in November 2017 after President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko visited the DP World Group’s headquarters in the UAE.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine recently authorized P&O Maritime B.V. to indirectly acquire LLC LBSh, which is a company that was established in May 2017. LLC LBSh began winning tenders for performance of towing operations at the port at the end of that year, the Interfax Ukraine news agency reports.
According to a statement that the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine issued on January 3, the committee authorized P&O Maritime B.V. to acquire more than 50% of LBS B.V. (Amstelveen, the Netherlands), which the committee simultaneously authorized to acquire more than 50% of LLC BPSh (Yuzhny, Odesa region), which owns 99.95% of LBSh.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine also granted permission for concerted actions in the form of implementing the agreement on restrictive conditions stipulated in the draft shareholder agreement, which will be concluded among P&O Maritime BV, Cornlex Impex Limited, LBS BV, Calabasa Holding Limited, for a period of three years.
At the same time, the committee announced that Stavnitser and E. Grebennikov had indirectly acquired control of Cornlex Impex Limited through the companies Niokron Brok Corp and Vertigo Ports Management S.A.
The SD Capital investment company was established in 2016 by Stavnitser, who is the co-owner of the TIS company, and F. Grushko, the business development director of TIS.
P&O Maritime is a global provider of maritime solutions established in Britain in 1837. The company provides various types of port services around the world. It has its own fleet of tugboats, mooring vessels, research vessels, and passenger and cruise liners. DP World purchased the P&O Group of Companies, which included P&O Maritime, in 2006.
P&O Maritime acquired Reyser (Remolques y Servicios Maritimos, S.L.), a Spanish company that provides international maritime services, in June 2017. Reyser operates in 10 Spanish ports and owns a fleet of 151 vessels, including 20 tugboats, 53 mooring boats, 5 bunker vessels, and 73 environmental escort vessels.
As reported, the Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure announced in April 2017 that it had reached agreement with DP World on audit of the Yuzhny port with the aim of introducing a cargo-handling information system.
DP World’s Chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem announced in in the fall of 2016 that P&O Maritime intended to invest in development of the Odesa seaport’s tugboat fleet. Earlier, a memorandum was signed with the leadership of the seaport.
