Dubai Ports Deal Hits Snag With NY-NJ Authority Over Newark Port
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Dubai Ports World, the company whose planned takeover of major port operations in New York and other U.S. cities ignited a political firestorm last year, may be headed for a new storm in its plan to sell off those operations to a U.S.-based company.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is seeking tens of millions of dollars from the prospective new owner, AIG Global Investment Group, for improvements the port agency has made to the Port Newark Container Terminal in Newark, N.J., which AIG would operate.
Port Authority spokesman Stephen Sigmund said Wednesday he could not put a precise figure on how much the agency should receive in cash payments or future work at the facility, but he said the agency has spent $30 million in infrastructure developments since 2000.
The agency is seeking to strike a deal with AIG for the costs incurred expanding a 15-acre parcel of the Newark operations and wants a commitment by AIG to further work.
"We're not looking to hold up anything,'' said Sigmund, who said he did not know of any other U.S. ports seeking similar compensation from AIG.
Dubai Ports World, based in the United Arab Emirates, is the world's largest marine terminal operator with 51 terminals in 24 countries. It announced in December that it had struck a deal to sell AIG the U.S. operations, which include six major U.S. seaports in New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami, Tampa, Fla., and New Orleans.
The deal also involves stevedoring operations in 16 locations along the eastern seaboard and Gulf Coast and a passenger terminal in New York.
The U.S. holdings were valued last year at roughly $700 million, but the companies did not disclose the sale price.
Sigmund said Dubai Ports World has "made a pretty substantial profit here, and we want AIG to make a commitment to reinvest money in the capital projects so that we're sure they're going to operate the terminal responsibly.''
AIG spokesman Chris Winans would not discuss the company's talks with the Port Authority, but he said "we remain excited about the possibility of acquiring this business.''
Asked if the agency's request for money had delayed the sale, Winans declined to comment.
AIG Global Investment Group is an asset management firm whose parent company is the New York-based insurance firm America International Group Inc.
The Port Authority has the right to consent to a new owner under the terms of its 30-year lease to operate the Newark facility.
The negotiations between the port and the new operators are just the latest twist in a complicated global saga that began early last year, when DP World won permission from the U.S. government to buy a company with extensive port operations in the United States.
That set off blistering criticism from U.S. politicians of both major parties, who said the deal could threaten homeland security. They cited the UAE's support of Afghanistan's Taliban government before the 2001 terror attacks and questioned whether the country or the company had done enough to keep out terrorist money and material.
Even as DP World completed the acquisition on paper, political pressure forced the company to take a hands-off approach to ownership of the U.S. assets.
One of the fiercest critics of the original deal, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., was uncharacteristically quiet on the subject Wednesday, saying only that he was following the matter closely.
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