Investment consortium mulling $4 billion ABP bid

Investment consortium mulling $4 billion ABP bid    The rush to buy British shipping related companies looks set to continue as Goldman Sachs told the London Stock Exchange Monday it is part of a consortium with Canada’s Borealis Infrastructure, backed by the Government of Singapore Investment Corp., that is considering a bid for the United Kingdom’s biggest port group, Associated British Ports Holdings PLC.
   ABP handled 129.3 million tons of cargo at its 21 British ports in 2005, giving it about 23 percent of the U.K. market share. The company is also the parent company of American auto-processing company AMPORTS, which has six port facilities nationwide, in Jacksonville, Fla.; Brunswick, Ga.; Benicia, Calif.; and three facilities in Baltimore, Md.
   Reports suggest that the consortium will make a '2.3 billion ($4 billion) offer, equivalent to '7.40 ($12.90) per share. ABP posted revenue of '435 million ($760 million) in 2005, down 1 percent compared to its 2004 group result. The company employs about 3,000 people, mainly at its U.S. and U.K. port locations.
   “The consortium’s considerations are at a preliminary stage and there can be no assurance that any offer will be made,” said Goldman Sachs. ABP noted the interest, but said no offer has been tabled as of yet.
   Following the announcement, shares in ABP reached a record high of '7.55 ($13.18) before closing Monday at '7.17 ($12.51), up 3.02 percent or '0.21 (37 cents) from Friday’s closing price.
   Should a formal offer materialize, ABP could go the same way as Anglo-Dutch ocean carrier P&O Nedlloyd, Anglo-Canadian shipping line CP Ships and port and ferries company Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., all recently subject to multibillion-dollar takeover deals by Danish, German and Dubai-located companies, respectively. In February, Australian investment company Babcock & Brown completed its '337 million ($589 million) cash acquisition of PD Ports, owner and operators of Teesport and Hartlepool in the northeast of England.