AD Ports Group, the operator of industrial cities and free zones in Abu Dhabi, has signed an agreement to buy a majority stake in a key dry port in Tbilisi, as the UAE and Georgia aim to boost bilateral ties after signing a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
As part of the deal signed with Inveco, AD Ports will acquire a 60 per cent stake in Tbilisi dry port, the company said in a statement on Friday to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, where its shares are traded.
It did not reveal the value of the deal.
A dry port is an inland terminal directly connected by road or rail to a seaport, operating as a hub for the transport of cargo to inland destinations.
The project, currently owned by Inveco and Wilhelmsen, is a logistics hub situated along the Middle Corridor – an emerging trade lane linking manufacturing hubs in Western Asia to consumer markets in Eastern Europe with a combination of sea and dry ports in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Turkey.
The Middle Corridor is regarded as the shortest trade route between Asia and Europe, covering nearly 7,000km, with a journey time of 10 to 15 days.
The latest deal comes after the UAE and Georgia signed the Cepa in October, which aims to increase bilateral non-oil trade between the two countries to Dh5.5 billion ($1.5 billion) in five years.
AD Ports Group’s investment in the port “is set to deepen trade and investment ties, develop global trade lanes, and generate market access opportunities for UAE and Georgian businesses”, said Minister of State Ahmed Al Sayegh.
The project consists of two land parcels and will be developed in phases, said AD Ports.
By the end of the initial phase, the handling capacity at the port is expected to reach 96,500 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), with 10,000 square metres of warehouse and a car storage yard.
After the completion of phase three, the project will have a handling capacity of 286,000 TEUs, 100,000 square metres of warehouse and a significantly expanded car storage yard, AD Ports said.
The project is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2024 and will be operated and managed by AD Ports subsidiary Noatum Logistics.
“By investing in, and operating, new strategic infrastructure and logistics hubs along the Caspian Sea-Black Sea Corridor, AD Ports Group is delivering on our strategy to strengthen global supply chains,” Capt Mohamed Al Shamsi, managing director and group chief executive of AD Ports Group, said.
AD Ports, which has a portfolio spanning 27 terminals, currently has a presence in more than 40 countries. Under Kezad Group, part of AD Ports, it also operates more than 550 square kilometres of economic zones in Abu Dhabi.
The company has been rapidly expanding its presence in recent years. In January, its Spanish operations division Noatum Terminals fully acquired APM Terminals Castellon for €10 million ($11 million) in a move to strengthen operations in the western Mediterranean region.
Last June, AD Ports signed a 50-year agreement with Karachi Port Trust, to boost infrastructure at the port in Pakistan’s commercial hub.
In February, AD Ports, with Kaheel Terminals, also secured a second port concession agreement in Karachi for bulk and general cargo operations. The joint venture plans to invest approximately $75 million in the first two years, with a further investment of $100 million within five years.
The company is also investing $3 million to develop three cruise terminals in Egypt as part of a 15-year concession agreement with the Red Sea Port Authority that covers the Safaga, Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh ports.
Last year, AD Ports also signed a 30-year concession agreement with the government of the Republic of Congo to manage and operate a multipurpose New East Mole Terminal in the city of Pointe-Noire.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Children who witnessed blood bath want to help others
Aged just 11, Khulood Al Najjar’s daughter, Nora, bravely attempted to fight off Philip Spence. Her finger was injured when she put her hand in between the claw hammer and her mother’s head.
As a vital witness, she was forced to relive the ordeal by police who needed to identify the attacker and ensure he was found guilty.
Now aged 16, Nora has decided she wants to dedicate her career to helping other victims of crime.
“It was very horrible for her. She saw her mum, dying, just next to her eyes. But now she just wants to go forward,” said Khulood, speaking about how her eldest daughter was dealing with the trauma of the incident five years ago. “She is saying, 'mama, I want to be a lawyer, I want to help people achieve justice'.”
Khulood’s youngest daughter, Fatima, was seven at the time of the attack and attempted to help paramedics responding to the incident.
“Now she wants to be a maxillofacial doctor,” Khulood said. “She said to me ‘it is because a maxillofacial doctor returned your face, mama’. Now she wants to help people see themselves in the mirror again.”
Khulood’s son, Saeed, was nine in 2014 and slept through the attack. While he did not witness the trauma, this made it more difficult for him to understand what had happened. He has ambitions to become an engineer.
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LIVING IN...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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The Outsider
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