ABP execs pocket 140,000 shares

ABP execs pocket 140,000 shares    Three top executives at Associated British Ports Holdings, the United Kingdom’s largest port group, have been awarded about '1.02 million ($1.84 million) worth of shares, not long after the company rejected a preliminary takeover offer from a consortium headed by Goldman Sachs and the Government of Singapore Investment Corp.
   Bo Lerenius, ABP’s group chief executive received 73,002 shares worth '7.26 ($13.13) each as well as options for the same amount. Richard Adam was given 47,520 shares and the same number of options and Douglas Morrison, ABP’s executive director received 20,110 shares and options for the same figure.
   The shares award was part of ABP’s share performance plan. The board of directors in total received options for about 287,000 shares at the same price.
   ABP recently rejected as “wholly inadequate” the Goldman Sachs consortium’s preliminary takeover offer of '2.3 billion ($4.2 billion), equal to '7.30 ($13.21) per share.
   The ports group controls nearly a quarter of the British market after moving about 130 million tons of cargo at its 21 ports in 2005. The company is also the parent company of American auto-processing company AMPORTS. In 2005 it posted revenue of '373.9 million ($676.4 million) up 2 percent from '365.4 million in the previous year.
   ABP’s share price on the London Stock Exchange was 731.5 pence ($13.22) at 1.30 p.m. local time today, up '2.00 ('3.62) from Thursday’s closing price.