According to sources, Morgan Stanley's infrastructure investment arm has announced plans to sell the Montreal Gateway Terminals Partnership (MGT), a cargo container facility at the Port of Montreal, Canada.

The asset could have a value of about US$800 million, according to the mentioned sources.

On 22 February 2007, the firm announced that it  had entered into an agreement to acquire an 80% interest in Montreal Gateway Terminals for US$400 million from Germany's TUI, a leading tourism and shipping group. Last year, it bought the remaining 20% stake from Hapag-Lloyd AG, TUI's container shipping unit.

The port has three international container terminals. Montreal Gateway Terminals Partnership operates two of the terminals and Termont Montreal Inc. operates the other. Empire Stevedoring Co. Ltd. operates a terminal that handles domestic containers.

The Port of Montreal is the third largest North Atlantic container port and serves as a key entry point for trade between Europe and Montreal, Toronto and the Midwest U.S., including Chicago and Detroit. It is located on the St. Lawrence River in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

The port handled 28.4 million tonnes of cargo in 2012. It is a transshipment point for consumer goods, machinery, grain, sugar, petroleum products and other types of cargo. Montreal is also a cruise port that welcomes major international cruise ship lines.

The potential sale of MGT comes amid strong interest in ports and terminals assets globally. Earlier this week, we published that the New South Wales government and the Port of Newcastle Investments consortium signed a final contract on 30 May for the 98-year lease of the Port of Newcastle.

The Port of Newcastle Investments, a 50:50 joint venture formed by Hastings Funds Management and China Merchants, won the auction for the project one month ago. The consortium will pay a total of A$1.75 billion which represents a multiple of 27 times EBITDA.