Chicago-area bidder for port operation adds a partner

NORFOLK

CenterPoint Properties Trust, the Chicago-area firm that in March submitted the first bid to operate the terminals of the Virginia Port Authority, has added a partner.

In a letter posted on the Port Authority's Web site Wednesday, CenterPoint President Paul S. Fisher announced that his company had teamed with GCT Global Container Terminals Inc., a subsidiary of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan.

"We are advising the VPA of this because we think it strengthens our team and makes our proposal even more competitive," Fisher wrote in the letter to the Port Authority, dated Monday.

" Our agreement is contingent on the relationship being acceptable to the Virginia Port Authority, but we hope that the VPA will see this addition as strengthening our proposal, and will welcome GCT to our team," he wrote.

GCT Global Container Terminals was established in 2007 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, one of the largest financial institutions in Canada, with more than $87 billion Canadian in net assets, according to its Web site. The company operates four container terminals in North America - two in British Columbia, one in Staten Island, N.Y., and one in Bayonne, N.J.

Under the terms of the agreement, Virginia International Terminals Inc., a tax-exempt affiliate begun in 1981 to operate the terminals of the Port Authority, would continue in its current role.

CenterPoint's letter and its posting on the Port Authority's Web site apparently surprised some port officials.

"You caught me cold," said Jerry A. Bridges, executive director of the Port Authority, who is on vacation and said he could not comment.

Joe Harris, a Port Authority spokesman, said he had learned of the letter late Wednesday afternoon and could not comment.

"There's really nothing we can say at this point," said Greg Edwards, the authority's director of external affairs. "It's hot off the presses."

CenterPoint's letter was dated a week after the deadline for other bids to operate the Port Authority's three marine terminals, an inland port in Front Royal and a proposed new facility at Craney Island.

On July 27, two new bids were announced - from The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm based in Washington, and another from a partnership of Carrix Inc. and Goldman Sachs.

Carrix is the Seattle-based parent of SSA Marine, Tideworks Technology and Rail Management Services, according to its Web site.

Both of the new bids were still undergoing an initial review by the office of the s ecretary of t ransportation on Wednesday to ensure compliance with state law. No details have been released yet.

CenterPoint has valued its bid at $3.5 billion in today's dollars but said it would be worth $8.9 billion over the 60-year life of the deal.

The decision on whether to privatize the Port Authority's operations rests with its board, which will be advised by an independent review panel appointed by Homer. No decision is expected before the end of the year, port officials have said.

Robert McCabe, (757) 446-2327, robert.mccabe@pilotonline.com