Fesco buys 12.5pc of TransContainer, eyes controlling stake

RUSSIA's Far East Shipping Company has bought a 12.5 per cent stake in the Russian Railways unit TransContainer for US$138.9 million as part of an objective to securing a controlling interest and with it, 50 per cent of the country's container rail sector.

Fesco's sale of its container terminals signalled an exit from port operations in August sale of National Container Company (NCC) for US$900 million freeing it up for further investments.

The distribution of the remaining stake of the 35 per cent released, which reduces RZD to a 50 per cent share, is as yet undisclosed, reported London's Containerisation International. However, the second biggest operator in the country's rail sector of Russian Troika is part owned by 50 per cent by TransContainer and Fesco highlighting an aggressive move into the sector.

FESCO chief executive Sergei Generalov said in a report in Moscow Times that its aim to acquire a controlling stake in TransContainer "will happen" in two to four years time. The deputy transport minister Andrei Nedosekov, who confirmed a possible sale of TransContainer in 2012-13 to finance investments, backs this up.
(Source:www.schednet.com)