A.P. Moller Capital has agreed to buy 100% of Singapore-based port operator Portek International from Mitsui & Co., adding seven multipurpose terminals across Africa, Asia and Europe to a fast-expanding infrastructure portfolio.

The deal, struck through the investment manager's Emerging Markets Infrastructure Fund II, remains subject to regulatory and third-party approvals. Portek operates terminals in Algeria, Gabon, Indonesia, Latvia, Malta and Vietnam, giving the fund exposure to three continents in a single transaction.

The volumes behind the acquisition are concrete. Portek handles roughly seven million tonnes of bulk cargo, 700,000 containers and 90,000 vehicles each year — throughput that places it among the mid-sized multipurpose operators serving niche trade flows rather than headline deepsea routes.

Who is Portek and what does it move?

Mitsui built Portek, founded in 1988, into a diversified operator combining terminal concessions with port engineering, operations and maintenance services, run principally from Singapore and Indonesia. Its footprint covers both established and emerging markets:

• Six countries: Algeria, Gabon, Indonesia, Latvia, Malta and Vietnam
• Seven terminals spanning bulk, container and ro-ro cargo
• Roughly 7 million tonnes of bulk cargo annually
• About 700,000 containers and 90,000 vehicles per year

That cargo mix matters for shippers in these lanes. Multipurpose terminals in markets such as Gabon and Algeria often serve bulk and breakbulk flows — minerals, agri-commodities and project cargo — where terminal capacity is thin and switching options are limited. A new owner with capital to spend on equipment and processes can change dwell times and reliability for cargo owners who have few alternatives.

What does the new owner plan to change?

A.P. Moller Capital said it will work with Portek's existing management and operating teams after completion to improve operational performance, safety and environmental standards, including emissions-reduction planning. No target figures or timelines were disclosed.

Semih Gökmen, partner at A.P. Moller Capital, said: "It is an established business with a diversified portfolio of port operations serving important trade flows across three continents, supported by experienced local operating teams."

The retention of existing management signals continuity rather than a turnaround play — relevant for carriers and forwarders with standing berthing and handling arrangements at Portek facilities in, for example, Riga or Bejaia.

How does the deal fit A.P. Moller Capital's strategy?

The acquisition is the latest in a series of logistics infrastructure buys by the fund manager. Portek will sit alongside existing investments in Philippines-based AC Logistics and Bergé Logistics, which operates in Spain and Latin America.

A.P. Moller Capital has also recently signed agreements to acquire majority stakes in Globex Investissement and Euroports, the latter a major European dry bulk and breakbulk terminal network. Taken together, the deals sketch a portfolio spanning European, Latin American, Asian and African port and logistics assets — a private-capital mirror of the diversified terminal strategies pursued by listed operators.

For Mitsui, the exit ends a long stewardship of an operator it grew from a Singapore engineering house into a multi-country terminal business. The Japanese trading house has been rebalancing its logistics holdings as global port valuations hold up on the back of resilient cargo demand.

What happens next?

Completion depends on regulatory and third-party approvals, which the parties did not timetable. Once closed, the immediate commercial questions for shippers using Portek terminals are whether capital expenditure follows — new cranes, yard equipment, dredging — and how quickly emissions-reduction planning translates into equipment and energy changes at the quayside.

With A.P. Moller Capital's recent run of Euroports, Globex and now Portek, the fund manager has signalled it intends to keep consolidating mid-market terminal assets, and further moves across emerging-market port infrastructure look likely while institutional capital keeps chasing steady infrastructure returns.