F2i, the biggest Italian infrastructure fund with around EUR 5 billion (US$ 5.62 billion) in assets under management, announces its entry into the ports sector with the acquisition of the Porto di Carrara S.p.A (PDC S.p.A) Group, which owns port terminals at Carrara, Marghera and Chioggia.

PDC S.p.A  handles around 5 million tons of solid bulk cargoes each year, is one of the main Italian port hubs and operates in the strategic sector of supplying some of the key Italian industrial segments. Most of the steel supplies for the districts of Brescia, Verona and Vicenza pass through the terminals of the PDC Group, cereals for transformation in the food districts of the Po Valley and the marble and stone for the stone working districts of Carrara and Verona. PDC S.p.A and its subsidiaries Multiservice S.r.l and Transped S.r.l operate as multi-specialist hubs as well as genuine logistical platforms, as with the assembly and handling of modules for Baker
Hughes General Electric in the area of Carrara.

The Group ended 2018 with around EUR 59 million (US$ 66.39 million) in consolidated revenue. F2i, in taking over the majority stake held by shipowner and port operator Enrico Bogazzi and the minority stake held by the cooperative for port services, Ciclat, intends to continue in the direction taken by the outgoing majority shareholder who managed to make the PDC Group one of the main Italian port hubs. The investment was made through the third F2i fund, assisted by Venice Shipping and Logistics (VSL) as an industrial advisor.