Because of civil unrest and violence in Syria, International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) will be pulling out its business from that country.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, ICTSI said that through Tartous International Container Terminal jsc (TICT), its wholly owned subsidiary in Syria, it filed a “notice of termination” of its investment agreement with Tartous Port General Co. (TPGC).

The disclosure added that TICT was compelled to send the notice of termination of the agreement because of TPGC’s consistent refusal to recognize the occurrence of Unforeseen Change of Circumstances brought about by civil unrest and violence, which has gravely affected businesses and trade in Syria.

“The issuance of this notice was also prompted by aTPGC’s refusal to negotiate in good faith for relief from the clear imbalance of the parties’ economic relationship, which constitute a breach of the agreement,” the company said in the disclosure.

After several discussions, ICTSI said that “TITC was left with no choice but to issue the notice of termination when Syria plunged into a state of full-fledged civil war, which exposed everyone [combatants and civilians alike] to increasing threat of death and destruction on a daily basis, which is considered as force majeure under the agreement.”

In 2007, ICTSI, represented by TICT, forged a 10-year investment agreement with TPGC to manage, operate, maintain, finance, rehabilitate, develop and optimize that Tartous container terminal in Syria. For the first nine months of 2012, TITC handled 26,661 twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs) and generated revenues of $2 million representing 0.6 percent of 0.4 percent of ICTSI’s consolidated volume and revenues, respectively.

In terms of total assets, TITC accounted for 0.4 percent of the total assets of ICTSI as of September 30, 2012. Writing off the TICT agreement and remaining net assets in the 2012 consolidated accounts of ICTSI would amount to nearly $1.2 million.

ICTSI also said that it would be saving of about $4 million annually, in terms of port fees and cash operating expenses, from the termination of the agreement and write-off of its Syrian operations.

In a separate disclosure, ICTSI also said that its board has approved the appropriation of a portion of its existing retained earnings in the amount of $83 million for additional working capital requirements of its domestic and foreign expansion projects in 2013.