Private equity group buys stake in Chennai container terminal

A private equity firm focused on global infrastructure asset investments has acquired a 25% stake in Chennai Container Terminal Private Limited (CCT).

CCT is India's leading east coast container facility

The acquisition involved International Port Holdings (IPH), a unit of the private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP).

The deal still needs regulatory clearance from the Indian government and approval from the Chennai Port Trust, said GIP.

Financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

GIP had agreed to purchase the 25% stake from the Chennai-based Chettinad Group. The remaining 75% stake is held by DP World.

The CCT, in the southeast Indian port of Chennai, has a handling capacity of one million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

Since its opening in 2001, CCT's volume of cargo throughput has grown at an annaul rate of almost 19%, making it the second fastest growing container terminal in the country.

Chennai, formerly Madras, is India's second biggest container port after Jawaharlal Nehru port in Mumbai.

Chennai handled 881,000 TEUs in the fiscal year ending in March 2007 and industry players expect it to handle one million TEUs this fiscal year.

The Chennai Port Trust recently chose a PSA International Pte. Ltd. -led consortium to build and operate a new 1.3 million capacity container terminal at its port.

A 30-year concession to develop and run the new Chennai International Terminal Pte Ltd, scheduled to be operational by December 2008, was signed in March this year.