ABP: Coals to Humberside

The market’s enthusiasm for a potential £2.3bn bid for AB Ports was brief. The news of a potential offer from a consortium led by Goldman Sachs - with a rumoured price of 740p - provoked a rally to 750p. But the stock then fell back to 710p, up only 2% on the day. Some sort of offer was widely expected. After P&O, ABP’s larger UK competitor, was bought for 13 times ebitda, the scarcity and potential growth of ports assets looked more valuable. And infrastructure assets are in favour with pension...