Belterminal

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In November 2008, the rail freight operator OKD Doprava (Czech Republic) announced that it purchased a 90% stake in state-owned freight rail operator Belterminal located in Brest, Belarus. Belterminal’s main asset was a railway terminal that had a strategic location at the border with Poland loading and unloading cargo transported through Belarus to the European Union. OKD Doprava reportedly paid about US$5-6 million for the acquisition. OKD Doprava was the second largest railway transport operator in the Czech Republic after national rail operator Ceske drahy (CD). The company was owned by Prague-listed energy holding New World Resources (NWR) which was a wholly-owned subsidiary of RPG Industries SE (RPGI), a Cyprus-based investment company indirectly owned by Czech entrepreneur Zdenek Bakala and European private equity group Crossroads Capital Investments. The acquisition of the railway terminal in the city of Brest, close to the border with Poland, was a strategic investment for OKD Doprava. It would enable it to handle cargo on the main railway junction between Europe (Berlin-Warsaw-Brest) and Russia (Brest-Minsk-Moscow).