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£2.8bn Bid for ABP
01 Jul 2006
The UK's largest ports group has been stalked by Goldman Sachs since a non-binding offer was first received in March. The ABP Board accepted a bid valuing the Group at 810p per share in June, prompting a consortium led by the Macquarie Bank of Australia to make 'a pre-conditioned proposal' involving a cash price of at least 840p per share. Goldman Sachs gazumped this offer with a new 'knockout bid' valuing ABP at 910p per share in cash. The Macquarie consortium then agreed it could not justify a higher offer and withdrew from the bidding. One of the richest men in Asia, Li Ka-shing, is rumoured to be interested in ABP as an investment vehicle for his Cheung Kong Infrastructure but had not bid at the time of writing.
The Goldman Sachs led Admiral consortium is 33% owned by Canadian pension funds investment vehicle Borealis Infrastructure. GIC Special Investments, the private equity arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, owns another 33%.
Goldman Sachs itself holds 23% and the final 10% is controlled by the British Prudential Group's Infracapital Partners.
ABP, which owns and operates 21 ports around the UK, has seen its share value jump from 265p in February 1999 to the 910p bid by Admiral. The arrival of a new management team led by Bo Larenius six years ago focused the Group on core activities and invested steadily in new facilities.
Simon Group, which owns and operates Humber Sea Terminal, is recommending a £98m takeover bid from Belgium's Montauban, owner of HST customer Cobelfret.
Successful bids for ABP and the Simon Group will leave Forth Ports as the only British ports company on the London Stock Exchange. Needless to say, the Forth Ports share price was surging upwards at the time of writing.
MJ Information No: 22014
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