Gulftainer in US$500 million joint venture with Russian State Corporation

Abu Dhabi, Sept 19, 2010 (WAM)- United Arab Emirates based Ports and Logistics group Gulftainer, a subsidiary of the Crescent Group of companies and the largest private port and logistics operator of the Middle East, has signed a major joint venture agreement with Prominvest, the financial and investment arm of Russian State Corporation, Russian Technologies.
The agreement was signed in the Black Sea city of Sochi in the Russian Federation between Badr Jafar, executive director of the Crescent Group and vice chairman of Gulftainer, and Mikhail Shelkov, CEO of Prominvest in the presence of His Excellency Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.
The new joint venture company, Gulftainer Russian Technologies, will pursue investments and management opportunities in the complete logistics chain within the Russian Federation and the rest of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) including strategic port assets and related infrastructure.
The joint venture also announced plans to establish a fund of US$500 million to acquire port and logistics assets in Russia and the region, some of which have already been identified by the partners.