Global Ports Holding (GPH) has revealed plans to launch an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
The expanding cruise terminal operator will look to raise as much as $250m to keep its expanding strategy on track.
Emre Sayin, chief executive of GPH, told TradeWinds: “We grew quite fast in the last three to four years, we added a number of ports and we now feel it’s the right time to go to the next phase of our expansion.
“We think London is the best place to list because of the access to capital markets and because of the sophistication and understanding of investors.”
GPH has added six ports in the last 18 months and currently controls a portfolio of 14 in eight countries.
It had been mulling a public listing for more than two years.
The company’s revenue for 2016 was $115m while the number of passengers more than doubled to 7.8m from 2014 to 2016.
With the money to be raised from the London IPO, GPH wants to acquire more ports.
The company is already in talks for nine terminals in Europe, seven in the Caribbean and four in Asia.
Sayin added the company’s target is to double the number of ports and triple the number of passengers in the next five to six years.
As TradeWinds has reported, GPH has appointed Lord Mandelson, an ex-EU commissioner and UK minister, as a non-executive director.
Sayin confirmed the appointment to TradeWinds and said Lord Mandelson’s experience and international connections make him “a valuable addition to the company.”
Besides cruise terminals, GPH also controls two commercial ports in Turkey and Montenegro.
