SAAM group has agreed to acquire Starnav in Brazil for US$150M to boost its tugboat fleet in South America
The Chile-headquartered marine logistics and towage group said this purchase is a new step in the company’s strategy of expanding its operations into growth markets.
SAAM Towage will add 17 tugs currently operating in Brazil from the Starnav acquisition and pay another US$48M to purchase four tugs under construction in Brazil.
“This agreement is one of the largest transactions in SAAM’s history,” said SAAM chief executive Macario Valdés.
“It enables us to continue growing in this market and broaden our service offering to reinforce our position as the towage industry’s leading operator in the Americas and one of the largest in the world,” he explained.
This deal is subject to approval from the appropriate regulators in Brazil and compliance of other conditions that are customary for this type of transaction.
Once regulators approve the deal, SAAM Towage Brazil will take over the debt for the operational tugs and those under construction, which will be deducted from the price paid to Starnav.
SAAM Towage said once the purchase was completed, it could “upgrade part of the current fleet and will boast one of the most competitive, most modern fleets in that country”.
The announcement comes on the back of recent agreements to acquire the towage businesses operated by Ian Taylor in Peru and Standard Towing and Davies Tugboats in British Columbia, western Canada,
SAAM Towage provides services at over 80 ports in the Americas, completing more than 110,000 manoeuvres for 37,000 vessels each year, supplying port, towage and logistics services in 14 countries in the Americas.
On 9 May, it reported positive results for Q1 2022 including net income of US$23M, up 33% compared with the same period in 2021. SAAM’s sales reached US$202M, a 20% year-on-year rise and its earnings before interest, tax and debts was US$71M, a 14% increase.
“We performed well across all divisions, driven primarily by the logistics and port terminals divisions,” said Mr Valdés.
“Although we have seen a trend of sluggish activity in some markets, along with cost pressures from fuel and overall inflation, our service mix and business diversification have enabled us to boost revenue and stay competitive and profitable, while offsetting the increased start-up costs from the new operations in the towage division,” he explained.
