Clifford Chance has advised Australia's Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets and Australian pension funds MTAA Superannuation Fund, Statewide Superannuation Fund, and Westscheme Fund on the sale of DCT Gdansk S.A., Poland's largest container terminal, to a consortium of PSA International Ptd Ltd, the Polish Development Fund, and the IFM Global Infrastructure Fund (managed by IFM Investors). Weil Gotshal & Manges advised the consortium and the Polish Development Fund, Linklaters advised IFM, and Dentons advised PSA.
The deal remains contingent on formal approval by the relevant competition authorities. Financial details were not disclosed.
Clifford Chance describes DCT Gdansk as "one of the largest infrastructure investments in Poland, the largest and fastest-growing Polish container terminal, and the only deep-water terminal in the Baltic Sea region at which ships from the Far East call directly." According to Clifford Chance, "the DCT Terminal in the Port in Gdansk, which is located at the heart of the Baltic Sea, is the easternmost terminal within the range of Gdansk – Le Havre ports. DCT was the first terminal at which ships from Asia heading to the Baltic Sea called, and currently is the destination of the largest vessels in the world departing from China, Korea, and other Asian countries. The terminal handles Polish import, export, transit, and maritime transit."
Construction of DCT Gdansk began in 2005, and its capacity doubled in 2016 with the completion of a second quay. Container volumes reached 1.9 million twenty-foot equivalent units in 2018, placing it among the 15 largest container ports in Europe.
Through its Global Infrastructure Fund II, Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets held almost 64% of shares in DCT Gdansk S.A., a company managing the Deepwater Container Terminal in the seaport in Gdansk, since construction of the port began in 2005. MTAA Superannuation Fund held 18% of the shares, with Statewide Superannuation Fund and Westscheme Fund each holding 9%.
Clifford Chance's team was led by Partner Wojciech Polz and included Of Counsel Nick Fletcher, Counsel Piotr Bogdanowicz, Senior Associates Mateusz Stepien, Jaroslaw Gajda, and Lukasz Maminski, and Associates Joanna Pominkiewicz, Aleksandra Właszczuk, and Piotr Weclawowicz.
Linklaters' Warsaw team was led by Partner Marcin Schulz, supported by Senior Associate Ewa Szmigielska.
The Dentons team included Partners Jakub Celinski and Piotr Dulewicz, Counsel Arkadiusz Wierzbicki, and Associate Agata Sokolowska.
Weil's Warsaw team advising the buying consortium was led by Co-Managing Partner Pawel Zdort and included Senior Associates Jakub Zagrajek, Lukasz Szatkowski, and Jerzy Bombczynski and Associates Aleksandra Kabac, Kacper Stanosz, Barbara Skardzinska, Karolina Janus, Monika Michalowska, and Adrian Augustyniak.
A separate team of Weil lawyers led by Partner Filip Uzieblo and including Senior Associate Marek Maciag and Associate Marcin Plonka advised the Polish Development Fund.
Editor's Note: After this article was published White & Case informed CEE Legal Matters that it had represented of a club of lenders in connection with the financing of the acquisition of DCT Gdansk's shares. The firm's team was led by Partner Tomasz Ostrowski and Local Partners Michal Zieniewski and Nicholas Coddington and included Counsel Katarzyna Jakubiak, Jakub Gubanski, and Grzegorz Jukiel, and Associates Mateusz Zawistowski, Jerzy Oppeln-Bronikowski, and Iwo Malobecki.
