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Bloomberg
Cosco Shipping Holdings Co’s sale of a container terminal in Long Beach, California has drawn interest from potential buyers including Blackstone Group LP and KKR & Co, people familiar with the matter said.
EQT Partners and an arm of Macquarie Group Ltd have also been studying a deal for the asset, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The facility could be valued at $1 billion or more, depending on the structure of a deal, the people said.
Suitors for the terminal were asked to submit their interest last week, according to the people. Cosco, the Chinese state-owned shipping giant, agreed to sell it to obtain US regulators’ approval for its acquisition of rival container-shipping line Orient Overseas International Ltd.
The Port of Long Beach describes itself as a US gateway for trans-Pacific trade and the second-busiest container seaport in the US, according to its website.
Deliberations are at an early stage, and there’s no certainty they will result in a transaction, the people said. Representatives for Blackstone, EQT, KKR and Macquarie declined to comment.
A representative for Cosco referred Bloomberg queries to OOIL, which didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Other institutional investors have exposure to the region. Last year, EQT acquired 90 percent of Global Gateway South, a terminal in the adjoining Port of Los Angeles, from CMA CGM SA.
Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management partially owns TraPac, which operates container terminals in the ports of Los Angeles and Oakland.