Chinese ports investor China Merchants Holdings (International) Co. Ltd. (0144.HK) said it agreed to develop a container port project in Sri Lanka with partners for a total investment of US$601 million.

A joint venture between China Merchants and China Harbour Engineering Co. entered an agreement with Sri Lanka Ports Authority to develop the container terminal at the Hambantota Port Development Project, the Hong Kong-listed China Merchants said in a statement.

The joint venture will invest US$391 million out of the total investment of US$601 million in the project, China Merchants said.

China Merchants, the nation’s biggest port operator by container-shipping volume, has been stepping up investments in recent years to boost its port portfolio in China and abroad. In 2013, for example, the company spent US$701 million on two acquisitions that expanded China Merchants’ presence in ports as far-flung as the U.S. to Morocco.

For the Sri Lanka deal, details of the investment ratios of China Harbour Engineering and China Merchants in the joint venture have yet to be determined and the final terms of the agreement are still being discussed, the company said.

Source: Dow Jones