The UKÔÇÖs last remaining ports company, Edinburgh-based Forth Ports, will this week ask the UK Takeover Panel to issue a bid deadline to its suitor, the Northstream consortium, according to a report in the Sunday Times.
The Northstream consortium, made up of infrastructure investors Arcus and Peel Group and RREEF, an arm of Deutsche Bank, has so far submitted two takeover proposalsÔÇöthe first of which, a 1,285p per share bid, was received on 28 January.
The second bid was received on 3 February at 1,340p per share, valuing the group at about £612 million.
Forth Ports rejected both proposals, saying that its board considered both of these proposals carefully andis of the unanimous view that these proposals fall far short of the value of Forth Ports.
Analysts have suggested that NorthstreamÔÇöwhose members already control 27.4 per cent of Forth Port's sharesÔÇöwould need to increase its offer to about 1,500p a share in order to win over shareholders. Such a bid would value the company at about ┬ú685 million.
Forth Ports is now expected to call for a deadline to be set, to put an end to weeks of speculation over its future ownership.Forth Ports owns a portfolio of seven ports in the UKÔÇöTilbury in London, Dundee on the River Tay, and five ports on the Firth of ForthÔÇöLeith, Grangemouth, Methil, Burntisland and Rosyth.
The company has said that the ports generate an income stream with a high level of predictability and have strong organic growth prospects.
Within and around the Firths of Forth and Tay, Forth Ports manages and operates an area of 280 square miles of navigable waters, including two specialised marine terminals for oil and gas export. It offers services in ship handling, pilotage, navigation and towage. Forth Ports holds a 33 per cent shareholding in Tilbury Container Services.
The company also has a substantial property portfolio and a number of renewable energy projects. On turning down the consortiumÔÇÖs bid, the company said it believed that the portfolio had the potential to appreciate greatly in value when the property markets recover; and also that the renewable energy projects would generate significant value in future years.
The port activities make Forth Ports the largest port grouping in Scotland. It is also the largest ports company listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Forth Ports will use its annual meeting and trading update next week to reaffirm its growth plans, which include property development, increasing port traffic at Tilbury in the build-up to the London 2012 Olympics and a renewable energy business that includes wind farms and at least four biomass power stations.
