P&O confident of Dubai takeover

[DoYouEverWonder]

20 February 2006

P&O has said it is confident its takeover by Dubai Ports World will go ahead despite mounting opposition in the US.

Several US senators have warned they will oppose the $6.8bn (£3.9bn) deal over "national security concerns".

P&O controls six major ports in the US, including New York and Miami.

Meanwhile, a company based in the port of Miami has begun court action to prevent the takeover by DP World, which is backed by the Dubai government.

President Bush's administration has given its backing to the deal, which was agreed by the two firms last week, and has resisted calls from Congress to reconsider its stance.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4731560.stm


Curious who pulls the strings at P&O and how are they connected to the Bush WH?

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. P&O - The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company

P&O - The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company - is one of the world's foremost developers and operators of container ports. We are also the leading ferry operator in the UK and have property interests in the US and Europe.

Underpinning our activities is the strength of the P&O brand, recognised worldwide for its expertise, reliability and commitment to customer service. P&O's strategy is to focus its capital on those businesses where it is a market leader and which offer strong growth and value creation opportunities.

http://portal.pohub.com/portal/page?_pageid=71,207172&_dad=pogprtl&_schema=POGPRTL

[rodeodance]

2. Chertoff says 'trust us"--but information is CLASSIFIED.

Assurances in place

But the US Government dismissed the concerns, saying it had given the deal a thorough review and had implemented the "appropriate" conditions and safeguards where necessary.

"We make sure there are assurances in place, in general, sufficient to satisfy us that the deal is appropriate from a national security standpoint," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told ABC television.

However, he declined to give further details saying the information was classified.

Meanwhile P&O has insisted it has cleared all the correct regulatory channels after a partner in Miami filed a lawsuit to block the deal.

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. Here's a tidbit from about a month ago about this 'deal'

I don't know what it is but something stinks around here.


P&O questions

Alex Brummer, Daily Mail
12 January 2006



THE alacrity with which the board of the Penninsular & Oriental Steamship Navigation Co and its advisers bit off the hand of Dubai's DP World when they rolled up with a 443p offer is looking foolish. A bid in the hand is no doubt worth a great deal more than those in the bush. However one has to seriously question why Sir John Parker, advised by Citibank and Rothschild, felt so strongly about the Dubai offer that he even consented to a break fee of £33m of shareholders' money.

We are now starting to find out that the DP World offer was inadequate given the paucity of port and other shipping assets around the world.

In latest trading, P&O - which I hold - soared 6% to a shade under 500p, way above the second bid from the Singapore government-controlled Temasek Holdings. The truth of the matter is that both bidders are effectively controlled by states with bottomless reserves and no one can be sure where the take-out price will end up.

Broker Dresdner Kleinwort believes the winning offer will be in the 500p-550p region, more than a pound above where Parker and a deck heavy with knights of the realm ran up the flag of surrender.

Directors should have reflected more carefully on the price of abandoning 170 years ruling the high seas.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=406208&in_page_id=19&in_author_id=1



Edit: Here's one more.


They thought it was all over for P&O. Now Singapore ports wants a share of the action
Plenty left for Sir Terry to do at Tesco; Ernie Harrison's creation reaches 20
Published: 03 December 2005

Earlier this week, Sir John Parker, chairman of P&O, expressed exasperation that the City found it so difficult to put a decent valuation on some of Britain's most outstanding companies. It had taken the ports authority of Dubai to recognise what P&O was really worth by making a £3.3bn bid.

Well, now it seems that Sir John may have misjudged the company's value too. He's agreed 443p a share from Dubai Ports World, together with an expensive break deal if the deal doesn't go through, only to find that Temasek Holdings, the Singapore government investment agency, is prepared to pay even more. If no one else can recognise the value of ports, our friends from the east plainly can.

http://news.independent.co.uk/business/analysis_and_features/article330860.ece

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. For the record, the final bid was 520p

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4709782.stm

[BlueInPhilly]

5. This doesn't make any sense AT ALL!!!

I am all for free trade but this isn't going to end well. Something wicked this way comes...

All they need is one - ONE - dude who slips through the security cracks.