Report: P&O to accept Dubai offer
One of the UK’s oldest shipping firms was today said to be setting sail for foreign shores in a multi-billion pound takeover deal.
According to the London Evening Standard, the board of ports and ferries giant P&O was on the verge of accepting a £3.5bn (€5.1bn) offer for the company from Dubai Ports World (DPW).
The deal, which could be announced as early as Tuesday, would end nearly 170 years of British maritime history.
P&O – the Peninsula and Oriental Steam Navigation Company – was founded in 1837 and carried cargoes throughout the British Empire to Sydney, Calcutta, Singapore and other colonies as it became one of the most iconic names in British business.
DPW’s offer was said to be worth 460p a share – well above the 300p seen at the end of October before the company confirmed it had received an approach.
The share price soared to a high of 447.25p in early November as the prospect of a bidding war loomed, but it is thought that offers from other potential suitors such as Hong Kong-based Hutchison Ports, Singapore’s Temasek, and Denmark firm AP Moller-Maersk failed to materialise.
Shares stood at 432p today, which valued the company at £3.3bn (€4.8bn).
The deal would see DPW take over P&O’s 27 container terminals around the world, including Southampton and Tilbury in the UK.
P&O, which runs ferry services in the English Channel, Irish Sea and North Sea, is also set to win approval for a £1.5bn (€2.2bn) container port at Shell Haven in the Thames Gateway, which could make up 10% of its ports capacity.
