Batumi Seaport

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In May 2006, Georgian government awarded a 49-year lease contract to the Danish Greenoak Group on the Batumi seaport. Under the terms of the lease contract, the Greenoak Group acquired the port management of the Batumi Sea Trading Port Ltd. from the Batumi Commercial Seaport Company owned by the Georgian state. In 1999, Greenoak also acquired Batumi Oil Terminal. The Greenoak Group was an international investment company. At the group, Naftrans was the holding company for oil transportation. ENR Russia Invest Securities, the Hillside Apex Fund and Nobel Investment Limited were the minority shareholders at Naftrans. The lease contract was granted through a competitive tender process in which the bidding criterion was the highest lease fee. The minimum bid was set at $35 million by the Georgian economy ministry. Greenoak Group won the tender by offering $92 million. There were four other bidders: International Container Terminal Services (ICTS), Kazakh commercial bank TuranAlem, Eastwind Maritime Company of New York and Russian-controlled Energy Invest. Eastwind made the smallest bid, $53 million. ICTS offered $53.8 million, TuranAlem $65 million, Energy Invest $71 million Batumi seaport had five terminals: the oil terminal, the multi-purpose container terminal, the railway ferry terminal, the dry cargo terminal and the passenger terminal. The main operation at the port was to provide uninterrupted cargo handling and passenger service. The Greenoak Group guaranteed the annual shipment of 6 million tones of cargo through the port. In 2007, Kazmunaigas (KMG), the state oil company of Kazakhstan, has bought a 100% interest in the Batumi Oil Terminal and in the 48-year lease on Batumi Sea Port from Danish entrepreneur Jan Bonde Nielsen's Greenoak Group and its minority partners. KMG also bought a 50% stake in the Batumi Oil Terminal in 2006. Greenoak continues as operational manager. None None