Deals

Mexico’s Grupo TMM seeks equity partner for $500m port project

José Serrano, chairman and chief executive of the Mexican transportation and logistics company, said at the sidelines of the CG/LA Global Infrastructure Leadership Forum that TMM would be open to partnering with an infrastructure fund. Initial capital costs will require $375m of investment, with the Mexican Government expected to pick up the tab for $70m worth of dredging costs.

-

Grupo TMM, one of Mexico’s largest transportation and logistics companies, is seeking an equity partner for a $500 million port development project on the country’s eastern coast.

The company hopes to construct and operate new facilities for handling container and liquid cargoes at the Port of Tuxpan, according to a presentation given by TMM chief executive José Serrano at the CG/LA Global Infrastructure Leadership Forum in New York City.

Serrano said Tuxpan presented an “opportunity to invest with TMM” because the company would like to find an equity partner to help with the project’s development costs. Speaking at the sidelines of the event, Serrano said TMM would be open to partnering with an infrastructure fund.

The new Tuxpan facilities are aimed at alleviating congestion at neighbouring container terminals by providing an additional place to drop-off cargo and petroleum products bound for the metropolitan Mexico City region. The port of Tuxpan is the closest port to that region.

The total cost of the project is $500 million, according to Serrano’s presentation, with an initial investment of $375 million needed to get the planned facilities operational. Of that $375 million, the Mexican Government is expected to cover dredging costs totaling $70 million, Serrano said during the presentation.

Serrano said TMM would like to have the project commissioned by the second quarter of 2013.

Once fully implemented, the port facility will be able to receive up to 1.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units of containerized cargo annually and will have a capacity of 140,000 barrels per day of liquid petroleum products, according to a project profile on CG/LA’s website.