China Merchants Group Ltd is in advanced talks to buy Advent International Corp's 50 percent stake in TCP Terminal de Contêineres de Paranaguá SA, Brazil's second-busiest container port, O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper said on Thursday.
According to Estado, which cited unnamed sources familiar with the transaction, talks with the Chinese state-run company known as CMG gained momentum after Advent's negotiations with Dubai-based DP World Ltd hit a snag.
Reuters reported in August that Advent had hired Morgan Stanley & Co and Grupo BTG Pactual SA to sell the TCP stake. Sources said at the time that Advent wanted to fetch a price for the stake that could set a minimum value of 3.5 billion reais ($1.1 billion) for TCP.
Currently, DP World is engaged in talks to buy out partner Odebrecht SA in the Embraport container terminal at Brazil's Santos port, Latin America's largest, Estado said. Odebrecht is selling assets and refinancing debt following its involvement in Brazil's biggest corruption scandal.
Two people involved in the transaction told Reuters recently that Advent partners flew to Hong Kong and Dubai in February to discuss preliminary terms for the TCP deal with CMG and DP World, respectively.
TCP and Advent declined to comment on the Estado report and the February trip. China Merchant, DP World and Odebrecht did not immediately have a comment.
(Reporting by Brad Haynes, Tatiana Bautzer and Guillermo Parra-Bernal)