Malaysia sets its sights on ABP
It has been suggested that Malaysia’s largest state pension fund is to make a US$2bn bid for a stake in UK port operator, Associated British Ports (ABP).
The news comes shortly after Goldman Sachs and Prudential, which own one third of jointly-owned ABP, announced they were looking for a buyer for their share, acquired as part of a consortium that bought the port operator for £2.8bn in 2006 following a bidding war with an Australian bank.
Apparently, Malaysia’s Employment Provident Fund has hired bankers to help it acquire the 33.33% stake in the company, which operates 21 ports that handle 120 million tonnes of cargo a year, around a quarter of the UK’s total seaborne trade.
ABP, which owns the leading Southampton container port, reported revenues of £256.1m in the six months through June, a 4.6% increase on the previous year. Operating profit also increased 5.4% to £129.9m.
The company says if a sale were to go ahead, it “does not anticipate that this will result in any changes at an operational level”.
Borealis Infrastructure Management, a Canadian fund, and Singapore’s GIC Special Investments, each own a third of ABP.
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