Orient Overseas International Ltd (OOIL) said on Tuesday it has agreed to sell its Long Beach container terminal to a subsidiary of Australia’s Macquarie Group for $1.78 billion.
The Hong Kong-based shipping line last year said it would sell the container terminal after it was taken over by China’s COSCO Shipping Holdings Co.
COSCO had agreed with the U.S. government to do so in order to gain clearance for the $6.3 billion deal.
OOIL said it expects to book an estimated gain before tax of about $1.29 billion from the sale of the terminal to Olivia Holdings, majority-owned by a fund run by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, which in turn is part of Macquarie Group.
Shares in OOIL jumped more than 4 percent to their highest level since January after the company announced the sale.
Jefferies analyst Andrew Lee said in a note OOIL had received an “attractive price” for the terminal and believed it could use the proceeds to issue a special dividend. The company said it had yet to decide what it would do with the money.
Source: Reuters.com