CMA CGM Group to acquire 90% stake in Los Angeles terminal

French shipping company CMA CGM Group, whose U.S. headquarters are in Norfolk, announced Wednesday that it has signed an agreement to acquire a 90% stake in the Fenix Marine Services (FMS) terminal in Los Angeles, based on an enterprise value of $2.3 billion.

CMA CGM is funding the $1.8 billion acquisition from its own funds. The group holds a 10% stake in the terminal but will become the sole owner of the FMS facility after the transaction closes. Stockholm-based EQT Infrastructure III currently holds it.

“The swift recovery of the global economy has demonstrated the importance of ports and logistics infrastructure,” CMA CGM Group Chairman and CEO Rodolphe Saadé said in a statement. “In order to manage efficiently our port operations on the West Coast of the United States, we have decided to acquire Fenix Marine Services. It is a key industrial facility which will significantly strengthen our position and support our rapid growth in this market.”

FMS is the third largest terminal in the Los Angeles/Long Beach port area in terms of capacity, processing 2.5 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEU). It includes a deep-water location, with four berths with 50-feet drafts.

After closing, the CMA CGM Group will take over operations of the facility. Its plan to increase the terminal’s development includes extending the 292-acre container yard, expanding the terminal’s rail capacity — currently there are 8 rail tracks — and constructing a new berth.

By early 2022, FMS will welcome the first CMA CGM liquified natural gas-powered 15,000 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) to be deployed on routes between Asia and the U.S.

The CMA CGM Group currently has investments in 49 port terminals in 27 countries through its two subsidiaries, CMA Terminal and Terminal Link. The group serves more than 420 ports on five continents with a fleet of 542 vessels. In 2020, it transported nearly 21 million TEU containers. It has more than 110,000 employees in 400 offices and 750 warehouses across 160 countries.

The group employs more than 12,000 people in the U.S., and in February, it announced that it would invest $36 million to expand its Hampton Roads operations and Norfolk headquarters and to establish a business incubator in Arlington County. The expansion is expected to add 415 jobs.