• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager
• BL Club
• Smartbuy

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

Chennai, Nov. 1 Eredene Capital Plc, a UK-based company that invests in infrastructure projects in India, will invest £5 million in a new Container Freight Station (CFS) close to the Ennore port.

The investment is for an initial 85 per cent equity stake in a Special Purpose Vehicle to develop and operate the CFS located near Ponneri town, 18 km north of Ennore port. This is Eredene’s ninth investment in India and its third in a CFS.

The investment is a joint venture with the Sattva Business Group (Sattva) with which Eredene has invested in a separate revenue-producing CFS at Vichoor, which serves the nearby Chennai port.

Eredene’s stake in the new CFS will be brought down gradually from 85 per cent to 74 per cent, linked to achievement of certain agreed business milestones, the last one being the payment of the first dividend to shareholders, according to a press release.

The land will be purchased for the new CFS in phases with an initial acquisition of around 35 acres. The Eredene Group is also bidding for the Ennore Container Terminal project in a consortium headed by Spain’s leading port operator, Barcelona-based Grup Marítim TCB SL, Spanish construction group Obrascón Huarte Lian SA, and GE Mauritius Int Holdings, a subsidiary of America’s GE Equipment Services.

The consortium is one of the six bidders selected for a new 1,000-metre container terminal with an estimated capacity of 1.5 milion twenty-foot equivalent units a year. Eredene holds a 22 per cent interest in this consortium.

The same consortium has also applied for short-listing to build and operate a new 330-metre container terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) near Mumbai – the Eredene Group has a 22 per cent stake in that consortium, says the release.

More Stories on : Shipping/Ports | Infrastructure | Overseas Investments

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line