Global Ports Holding (GPH), the Istanbul based company that is the world’s largest cruise port operator, said its sale of the Port Akdeniz cargo facility has been approved by Turkish authorities.
It was the final cargo facility of GPH and the sale, which was unveiled in October, forms part of its plans to refinance a bond of €250 million.
“As previously announced, the agreed enterprise value for the sale was $140 million, and the equity value for GPH after deducting net debt and debt-like items of Port Akdeniz as at closing is $115 million,” the company said in a statement
GPH will become a more geographically diversified business, with Turkey representing a significantly reduced proportion of its revenuein the future.
“Revenue from Turkish assets represented 47.0% of Group revenue in the year ended 31 December 2019; following the disposal of Port Akdeniz, revenue from remaining Turkish assets represent c10% of 2019 pro-forma revenues,” GPH said.
The disposal also means that GPH will now effectively be a pure-play global cruise port operator. The GPH Board and senior management will now focus time and resources on the restart of cruise port operations during 2021 and continued expansion in the global cruise port market.
On 7 January, GPH announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Global Liman İsletmeleri A.S. had published a refinancing proposal to the holders of its $250 million, 8.125% Senior Unsecured Notes due 2021. This proposal aims to address the upcoming maturity and provide the business with a more stable, deleveraged capital structure.
The successful closing of the sale of Port Akdeniz is an essential element of the group's refinancing strategy for the Eurobond, with the net cash proceeds being used to fund a cash option to noteholders pursuant to the proposal, it said.
Photo: St John's in Antigua is one the ports GPH operates in the Caribbean
