Dutch dredging company takes four per cent stock in Anaklia Development Consortium

Construction of Anaklia Deep Sea Port started in 2017, with the opening of the port and the receiving of ships in Anaklia planned for 2021. Photo: Anaklia Development Consortium.

Agenda.ge, 21 Oct 2019 - 18:25, Tbilisi,Georgia

The Dutch company Van Oord, an international contractor specialising in dredging, marine engineering and offshore projects (oil, gas and wind), has become the owner of four per cent of shares of the Anaklia Development Consortium.

The price paid for purchasing the shares by Van Oord was $5 million.

The Ministry of Regional Development confirms that the government allowed the Anaklia Development Consortium to sell 4 per cent of its shares to Van Oord.

Van Oord carried out the dredging works for Anaklia Port bed last year.

The Anaklia Development Consortium has also put forward Meridiani as a potential investor to replace the American Conti Group which recently left the project. 

The investor has to be vetted by the Ministry of Infrastructure by October 29, 2019.

The price paid for purchasing the shares by Van Oord was $5 million. Photo: Anaklia Port. 

The deadline for the Anaklia Development Consortium to finalise agreements with potential investors and financial institutions to bring in $520 million in total in investments was October 15. 

Specifically, the consortium was supposed to have submitted signed documents with international financial institutions for $400 million in loans and with investors for capital of $120 million.

The Georgian Ministry of Infrastructure recently announced it will not cancel the current investment agreement despite the expired deadline for the consortium to finalise agreements with potential investors and financial institutions.

The Anaklia Development Consortium won the state tender to construct the port and signed a deal with the government in 2016 with TBC Holding as its principal partner, but has faced problems in attracting the $2.5 billion in funds needed to construct the port. 

Construction of Anaklia Deep Sea Port started in 2017, with the opening of the port and the receiving of ships in Anaklia planned for 2021. 

The latest timeline presented by the consortium says that the construction of the port will be completed in June of 2022 instead of 2020, announced the Ministry of Infrastructure on July 30.

Despite support from the government, the project has so far failed to obtain the needed $400 million in loans from international financial institutions and to put forward its own capital of $120 million.

The deadline for obtaining the funding has been postponed several times and the consortium was to have met this obligation by the end of 2019.