Macquarie enters bidding war for UK's largest ports group

Lorna Strickland

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The UK's largest ports group AB Ports has welcomed an offer from Macquarie Bank

UK's largest ports group Associated British Ports (AB Ports) has received a takeover offer from Macquarie Bank. Macquarie is offering 840 pence per share matching a rival bid from the Admiral Acquisitions consortium, led by Goldman Sachs. The new proposal totals £2.58bn ($4.87bn).

Earlier in the year AB Ports rejected a series of offers from Goldman Sachs that started at about 730 pence per share.

AB Ports owns 21 ports across the UK including Cardiff, Plymouth, Swansea and Southampton and handles about a quarter of the UK's seafaring traffic. Analysts expect a bidding war up to the value of 900 pence per share.

The sale comes after AB Ports sold its US ports division Amports to a private equity firm earlier in the year.