AD Ports Completes $835 Million Takeover of Brazil Agri-Bulk Terminal Operator CLI

AD Ports Group has completed its acquisition of Corredor Logística e Infraestrutura, or CLI, a major Brazilian agri-bulk port terminal operator, after receiving the required regulatory and antitrust approvals. The transaction closed at an enterprise value of AED 3.1 billion, or about US$835 million, making it the largest acquisition in AD Ports Group’s history.

The closing converts a deal first announced in June from a proposed transaction into a completed acquisition. Brazil’s National Waterway Transportation Agency, ANTAQ, and the Administrative Council for Economic Defense, CADE, provided the approvals needed for the transaction to proceed. CLI is now an operating member of AD Ports Group’s international portfolio and marks the group’s first strategic entry into South America.

The assets sit directly inside Brazil’s crop export system

CLI operates two agri-bulk export terminals under long-term concessions. CLI Sul at the Port of Santos is a major sugar export terminal that also handles corn and soybeans. CLI Norte at the Port of Itaqui is part of Brazil’s Arc of the North, a logistics corridor that has become increasingly important for moving agricultural commodities from producing regions to overseas markets.

That makes the acquisition more than a geographic expansion for a port operator. Control of terminal infrastructure can influence storage, vessel loading, throughput and the reliability of export corridors used by grain and sugar shippers. AD Ports Group says the acquisition strengthens its agrifoods business and extends its ability to serve customers across the agricultural supply chain.

AD Ports wants to connect Brazilian flows to its wider network

With the acquisition completed, the group says it intends to establish new trade routes directly linking Brazil with Khalifa Port and the Abu Dhabi Food Hub in KEZAD. It also sees opportunities to connect Brazilian commodity flows with its broader port, maritime, shipping and logistics network serving the Indian Subcontinent, East Africa and Southeast Asia.

The operational implications will depend on how CLI is integrated and where new services are actually launched. The company’s stated plans point toward tighter links between one of the world’s largest agricultural exporting countries and food-importing and processing hubs across the Middle East and Asia, but future route development should still be distinguished from the acquisition itself, which is already complete.

For Brazilian exporters, the immediate change is ownership rather than a new export rule or guaranteed increase in capacity. For AD Ports Group, however, the deal places two strategic sugar and grain terminals inside its global portfolio and gives the company a direct infrastructure position in South America’s agricultural trade network.