Leading global law firm Baker McKenzie has advised Hutchison Ports, the world’s leading port investor, developer and operator, in relation to the award of two new concessions in Egypt and related shareholding arrangements.

The total investment of the two projects is approximately USD 700 million, bringing Hutchison Ports’ total investment in Egypt to over USD 1.5 billion and paving a solid foundation for the company’s strategy to expand its network and enhance its capabilities in emerging markets.

The investment includes the development of a new container terminal in Ain Sokhna Port with a capacity of 1.7 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), which will be equipped with state-of-the-art technology and equipment to provide efficient and reliable services to customers. In addition, Hutchison Ports will invest in the development of B100, a new container terminal in Port of Alexandria, which will serve as a gateway to the Egyptian market.

Completion is subject to the satisfaction of customary conditions.

The Baker McKenzie team advising Hutchison Ports was led by London Corporate Partners Richard Blunt and Susie Davies, together with Cairo Partners Lamyaa Gadelhak, Hani Nassef and was supported by:

• Corporate: Matthew Gamble (Senior Associate, London) and Lesley-Anne Wilson and Julie Chemla (Associates, London),
• Antitrust: Keith Jones (Partner, London) and Anthony Gamble (Senior Associate, London)
• BM Cairo: Noureldin Elhayatmy (Associate, Cairo)

Commenting on the transaction, Richard Blunt and Susie Davies, said: ” We are delighted to have advised Hutchison Ports in achieving this significant milestone in its wider emerging markets expansion strategy. Our work on these transactions is a great example of our geographically integrated industry focused capability, along with our deep relationship with Hutchison Ports and the wider CK Hutchison group more broadly. We look forward to seeing Hutchison Ports bring these new projects to a successful fruition in the coming years.”

The Firm’s global Corporate EMI / Projects practice group covers transactional work in the energy, mining and infrastructure areas. The group takes an industry-led approach, and covers a number of different “legal” practice areas (including M&A, construction, project development and project finance), as well as industry-led fields such as hydrocarbons decommissioning and nuclear regulatory.

Baker McKenzie has a strong track record of advising some of the world’s leading port operators. For example, it has previously advised the world’s largest cruise port operator, Global Ports Holding (GPH) and the project company San Juan Cruise Port LLC on the Public-Private Partnership Agreement for the San Juan Cruise Port, Puerto Rico.