Associated British Ports Holdings Plc News

Britain's Associated British Ports Holdings Plc plans to sell Red Funnel Group, its ferry and towage business. "Red Funnel is an excellent operation and will only be sold if an adequate offer is received that reflects the true value of its potential future earnings," Chief Executive Bo Lerenius said in a statement. Red Funnel, which runs ferries between Southampton on the English south coast and the Isle of Wight, is forecasting profits of 8.5 million pounds on turnover of 26.7 million for the year ending December 31, 2000.

Britain's Associated British Ports Holdings Plc plans to sell Red Funnel Group, its ferry and towage business. "Red Funnel is an excellent operation and will only be sold if an adequate offer is received that reflects the true value of its potential future earnings," Chief Executive Bo Lerenius said in a statement. Red Funnel, which runs ferries between Southampton on the English south coast and the Isle of Wight, is forecasting profits of 8.5 million pounds on turnover of 26.7 million for the year ending December 31, 2000.

Associated British Ports Holdings Plc expects full-year pre-tax profit to be at the upper end of market expectations on turnover growth of at least eight percent on strong port activity and property sales. Britain's biggest port operator also said its strategy of selling non-core assets had continued and profits from this month's sale of Red Funnel Group and the sale of investment properties was expected to top $17 million.

Bloomberg reports that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and its bidding partners agreed to buy Associated British Ports Holdings Plc., after raising their offer to $4.6b. Goldman is buying the port operator with the government of Singapore and a Canadian pension fund. The group's first bid was 730 pence a share in March. The sale of London-based Associated British Ports is the third takeover of a British harbor owner in the past six months as an increase in world trade and expectations of steady earnings attract investors. DP World, which is owned by the government of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in March bought Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co. for $6.8 billion after agreeing to sell U.S. operations to overcome opposition from Congress.

Associated British Ports Holdings Plc is reorganizing top management at its American Port Services subsidiary, including appointing Douglas Tipton as head of the Seaport container terminal division. Tipton has been president and chief executive officer of U.S. shipping firm Contship Containerlines Inc for the past three years. He has extensive experience of the container industry, having also worked at Mitsui OSK, Maersk and Sea-Land. Seaport will become one business unit under his leadership, with all U.S. terminals reporting to him. Ozzie Moore will continue to head the U.S. aviation services division Amport. Moore and Tipton will report directly to ABP's chief executive Bo Lerenius. As a result, Tim Chadwick, chief executive of APS, will be leaving the group.

Associated British Ports Holdings Plc has appointed Douglas Tipton as head of the Seaport container terminal division at its American Port Services subsidiary, and will reorganize top management including the appointing. Tipton has been president and chief executive officer of Contship Containerlines Inc. for the past three years. He has extensive experience of the container industry, having also worked at Mitsui OSK, Maersk and Sea-Land. Seaport will become one business unit under his leadership, with all U.S. terminals reporting to him. Seaport operates six terminals for car exports and imports, mainly on the U.S. east coast. Ozzie Moore will continue to head the U.S. aviation services division Amport. Moore and Tipton will report directly to ABP's chief executive Bo Lerenius.

Associated British Ports Holdings Plc (ABP) agreed to a long-term deal with P&O North Sea Ferries for the provision of a new state-of-the-art passenger terminal at the Port of Hull in north England. The terminal will accommodate the world's largest super-cruise ferries, being built by Italian shipbuilders Fincantieri, which are due to be delivered in April and December 2001.

Shares in Britain's biggest port operator, Associated British Ports Holdings Plc, were nearly 20 percent higher Tuesday after officials reported the company had received a buyout approach that significantly undervalued the company. ABP did not say who made the informal offer, but advised shareholders to take no action. Industry sources said the approach, worth about $1.6 billion, had been made by Nomura International, the London-based investment bank arm of Nomura Securities Co. Ltd., Japan's biggest securities house. Nomura has a reputation for acquiring underperforming businesses, restructuring them and then selling them.