Northleaf Capital Partners recently acquired a 90% stake in Douglas Terminals from Hartree Partners (UK) Limited and Ghent Transport & Storage (GTS).
Douglas Terminals is a 557,000-cubic-meter liquid bulk storage terminal based in the Port of Ghent, Belgium. The facility consists of 17 high-quality tanks currently used for the storage of jet fuel, gasoil, diesel and biodiesel.
“Direct investments in high-quality bulk liquid storage assets are consistent with Northleaf’s strategy and offer our investors significant potential for stable, long-term returns,” said Roderick Gadsby, managing director at Northleaf. “This investment further strengthens and diversifies Northleaf’s portfolio of bulk liquid storage assets that now includes investments in the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, Australia and New Zealand.”
Hartree and GTS commenced commercial operations at the terminal in 2017.
GTS will retain a 10% stake and continue to operate the terminal under a management services agreement. As part of the transaction, Hartree, GTS and Northleaf agreed to jointly develop Max Terminals, a new liquid storage terminal planned for land adjacent to the Douglas site, Northleaf said.
“We are delighted to announce this transaction and are confident that Northleaf is the right majority owner of Douglas Terminals, given its experience in the liquid storage sector,” said Heiko Voelker, director at Hartree. “We look forward to partnering with Northleaf on the development of Max Terminals in the future.”
Added Yves Bienfet, GTS owner: “We have found our ideal long-term partner in Northleaf and are pleased that it supports Douglas Terminals’ strategy going forward. We are eager to work together with them in relation to Douglas Terminals, the development of Max Terminals and future opportunities in liquid storage.”