Hong Kong and London– Paul Hastings, a leading global law firm, announced today that it has advised COSCO SHIPPING Ports Limited (Stock Code: 1199.HK) (“COSCO SHIPPING Ports”) on its agreement to acquire a 20% minority interest in Red Sea Gateway Terminal Company Limited (“RSGT”) for a total consideration of US$140 million.

COSCO SHIPPING Ports is a leading China-based port operator with a rich terminals portfolio covering the five main port regions in Mainland China, Southeast Asia, Middle East, Europe, South America and the Mediterranean.

As a subsidiary of Red Sea Ports Development Company, RSGT is a terminal operator that manages and operates the Red Sea Gateway Terminal. It is the largest and newest flagship container terminal in Jeddah Islamic Port, with an annual container throughput capacity of 5.2 million TEU. Jeddah Islamic Port is the largest port in Saudi Arabia in terms of volume and cargo handling capacity covering the container market across the Middle East and East Africa. Benefiting from a stable source of container volume, the acquisition is expected to boost the throughput and profitability of COSCO SHIPPING Ports.

Paul Hastings has extensive experience in advising on some of the most complex and cross-border M&A deals and this transaction marks another high-profile acquisition matter in connection with port facility we have advised on in recent years after COSCO Shipping (Hong Kong) Group Limited’s acquisition of Piraeus Port Authority SA in Greece in 2016. It was one of the most noteworthy Greek privatization deals and helped turn Piraeus into a key logistics hub for Chinese exports to Europe under the Belt and Road Initiative. We have a robust track record in cooperating with China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited and its subsidiaries in addition to COSCO SHIPPING Ports, including COSCO SHIPPING Holdings Co., Ltd., COSCO SHIPPING Development Co., Ltd. and COSCO SHIPPING Energy Transportation Co., Ltd.

COSCO SHIPPING Ports Limited was advised by the Hong Kong and London offices of Paul Hastings. The Paul Hastings Hong Kong team was led by Raymond Li, partner and Chair of Greater China, and Corporate partner Fang Pei, with support from of counsel May Lun, associate Crystal Liu and legal manager Sharon Guo. The London team was led by Energy and Infrastructure partner Steven Bryan with support from associate Tamsin Doran.

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