West meets East

Rotterdam-based port agency S5 North Europe (‘S5 NE’) has extended its reach to Asia with the acquisition of Jardine Shipping Services, becoming the market leader in two of the world’s largest shipping regions, Europe and Asia.

NIBC acted as financial advisor to S5 North Europe, assisting the company in the M&A process and raising debt for the transaction, which marks a major milestone in S5 NE’s strategy to become the global industry leader in port agency services.

In 2014, we advised CEO Karel Peters on the management buyout of the port agency activities of Royal Burger Group, which became S5 NE. It has offices in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom and a presence in some 380 ports worldwide through its network partners.

Jardine Shipping Services – a subsidiary of London and Singapore-listed conglomerate Jardine Matheson – offers its port and liner agency services from 52 offices covering 200 major ports across South East Asia.

This merger of the fastest-growing port agency with one of Asia’s biggest port agency operators will reshape the dominant port agency business model and position S5 NE well for the future.