HONG KONG's China Merchants, Cosco Pacific and CIC Capital have agreed to buy 64.5 per cent of Fina Liman and Turkac's Istanbul container terminal for US$940 million. 

The move coincides with Maersk unit APM Terminals' decision to buy a container terminal on Turkey's west coast (story below) on the Aegean across from Athens.

In Istanbul, the Chinese consortium will take shares in Kumport representing 1.3 percent of issued share capital, the remainder of which (98.6 per cent) is owned by Fina Liman, for an initial purchase price of $20.2 million.

Cosco Pacific and China Merchants will hold 40 per cent each while CIC Capital will hold 20 per cent pending approval of the Turkish Competition Board. 

Kumport Terminal, the third largest container terminal in Turkey, "is located at a gateway to the Black Sea and a strategic interchange between Europe and Asia," according to Cosco Pacific. 

It has six berths with a current capacity of 1.84 million TEU and space for expansion to up to 3.5 million TEU. The terminal is able to handle containerships with capacity for up to 18,000 TEU and had a container throughput of 1.4 million TEU in 2014.

Cosco has hopes that the purchase will produce synergies between the Kumport Terminal and Piraeus Container Terminal near Athens.

"Furthermore, Kumport Terminal is situated in Turkey, which is a strategic location along the 'Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Maritime Silk Road,'" said Cosco Pacific.