UK ports and ferries group P&O said today that it had agreed a takeover bid from Gulf-state backed Dubai Ports World, valuing the company at £3.33 billion sterling. P&O said in a statement Dubai Ports had offered 443 pence per share in a cash bid.
P&O said on October 30 that it had been approached by a potential bidder which sources later confirmed as Dubai Ports.
The price offered by DP World is higher than many analysts had been expecting and comes amid reports that a bidding war may break out for P&O.
Temasek, which already owns the world's second biggest ports group, the Port of Singapore Authority, as well as Hutchison Ports - the world's largest
operator - and Denmark's AP Moller-Maersk could make rival approaches.
P&O operates 29 terminal container terminals and logistics operations in more than 100 ports, while it also runs ferries between the UK and France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland and Spain.
The ferries arm has struggled in recent years but DP World, which does not have any operations in this area, said it wanted to restore the business to strong profitability in 2006.
DP World said there were unlikely to be any job cuts as P&O will be run as a separate business under the leadership of current chief executive Robert Woods. There is very little overlap between the operations of the two companies.
P&O Irish Sea operates a daily service on the Dublin-Mostyn route and the Dublin-Liverpool route as well as a weekly Dublin-Cherbourg service.
