Turkish port operator to acquire 31 pct stake in Valletta Cruise Port Plc

ISTANBUL

Global Yatırım Holding said its port operator, Global Port, has signed a binding deal to acquire a 30.79 percent stake in Valetta Cruise Port Plc (VCP), which has operational rights of the Malta cruise port and its retail areas, in a written statement late Sept. 1. 

The completion of the stakes transfer will depend on the finalization of required legal and administrative permissions as well as future decisions by other partners of VCP about buying any more stakes. 

VCP won the operational rights of the Valetta Cruise Port in Malta, along with its accompanying buildings and lands measuring over 48,000 square meters, in an international tender in 2002 for the next 65 years, according to the statement. The company has also undertaken retail sales through Travel Shopping Ltd, with some 90 percent of stakes owned by it. 

VCP, which plans to offer services to 650,000 cruise passengers in 2015, aims to increase its passenger numbers and home-porting passenger rate, which is around 20 percent now, said the statement.