Posted on October 19, 2026
What’s the deal? AD Ports Group, the Abu Dhabi-listed operator, has acquired Brazilian agri-bulk terminal company CLI for $835 million — the largest acquisition in its history. Noatum Ports, its international terminal arm, took operational control on October 2, 2026.
What changes? The deal hands AD Ports two strategic terminals: CLI Sul, the largest independent sugar export terminal at the Port of Santos, and CLI Norte at the Port of Itaqui in Maranhão. The latter anchors the Arc of the North corridor, a shorter, cheaper route moving crops from Brazil’s interior to export markets.
Who sold? Funds managed by Macquarie Asset Management and IG4 Capital. The purchase cleared Brazil’s National Waterway Transportation Agency and antitrust authority CADE.
By the numbers: At $835 million, the deal tops AD Ports’ $720 million purchase of Spain’s Noatum in 2023 and its $510 million acquisition of a 51% stake in Global Feeder Shipping in 2024.
Why now? The acquisition supports Abu Dhabi’s food security strategy, built around the Abu Dhabi Food Hub at the Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi. The emirate is moving to control supply chains exposed as fragile during the pandemic and later geopolitical disruptions.
The bigger picture: With the CLI deal closed, both of the UAE’s large port groups now operate at Santos. DP World, controlled by the Government of Dubai, has run the former Embraport container terminal since 2013, handling a record 1.3 million TEUs in 2025 and expanding to 2.1 million TEU capacity by 2028 under a R$1.6 billion programme.
In April 2024, DP World also partnered with Rumo, Brazil’s largest railway operator, on a new $500 million grain and fertiliser terminal at Santos designed to handle 9 million tonnes of grain and 3.5 million tonnes of fertilisers a year.
What could go wrong? Santos is already Latin America’s most congested container port, running near 100% capacity through 2024 and 2025. The two Emirati groups now operate side by side there — DP World in containers and conventional bulk, AD Ports in agri-bulk and sugar — a configuration no planning process designed.
The signal: Gulf sovereign-backed capital is steadily positioning itself at both ends of Brazil’s agricultural export corridors, linking the infrastructure that feeds global markets to Abu Dhabi’s own food security goals.
