P&O may go with DPW offer as Temasek is silent |
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Wed, 21 Dec 2005 02:05
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LONDON: British port operator Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co. will stick with the 3.3 billion-pound cash takeover bid from Thunder FZE, a subsidiary of government-owned Dubai Ports World, as Singapore's Temasek Holdings Ltd. has not come out with any competing offer.
Temasek, Singapore's state investment company, had recently increased its stake in P&O from 2 per cent to 4.1 per cent leading to speculation that it is interested in buying the company. Temasek owns PSA International Pte, the world's second-largest port.
London-based P&O said in a regulatory news service statement that its board had no contacts from PSA or Temasek and so far no takeover proposal has been received.
Dubai Ports World, the port operator of Dubai, had agreed to buy P&O for 443 pence a share. Subsequently, spurred by the speculation of a Temasek offer, P&O's share prices have gone up to 469.5 pence yesterday, almost 6 per cent more than the Dubai Ports World offer.
P&O reiterated that it is not seeking any revision on the price quoted by Dubai Ports World.
Meanwhile, Dubai Port World's chief executive officer Mohammad Sharaf said he may change the structure of the offer so that it only needs approval from investors with 50 per cent of the stock. It has structured its current offer to have approval of investors with 75 per cent of the stock.
P&O expects the takeover to become effective on 9 February 2006. It said various court and stockholder meetings to approve the share transaction, to be implemented by way of a scheme of arrangement, are scheduled to be held on 20 January. The deal will then go before the regulators for approval.
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Dubai Ports may acquire P&O 