Royal Vopak announced May 31 that it has divested its 40% ownership in the joint venture Nippon Vopak Co Ltd to Macquarie Asia Infrastructure Fund. Nippon Vopak owns and operates five terminals in Japan with a combined operational capacity of 203,200 cbm.
This divestment is in line with the outcome of Vopak's business review, which was announced on 2 July 2014. Based on this business review, Vopak has updated its terminal portfolio criteria in accordance with the changing energy and petrochemical landscape. As part of this review, Vopak announced, amongst others, its decision to divest around 15 primarily smaller terminals.
The agreed net cash proceeds, based on the debt-free enterprise value of the divested ownership, amounts to approximately EUR 26 million (after capital gains tax). From a financial reporting perspective the divestment will be reported in Q2 2016 and will result in a small exceptional gain.
The proceeds from this transaction will be used to further strengthen Vopak's flexibility to execute its selective capital disciplined growth strategy and to support its consistent dividend policy, while maintaining a robust financial position.