IFM agrees controlling stake purchase in ABP at reported £10bn-plus valuation

Australian infrastructure investor IFM Investors has agreed to take control of Associated British Ports (ABP) through the purchase of a combined 63.88% stake from CPP Investments and OMERS, Splash 247 reported. The buyer is Global Infraco Haven Bidco, an indirect subsidiary of the IFM Global Infrastructure Fund. The transaction has yet to complete and remains conditional on regulatory approvals and mandatory UK national security filings.

ABP disclosed the binding agreement in a London Stock Exchange announcement, without releasing financial terms. Splash 247 cited the Financial Times as reporting a valuation of more than £10bn ($13.4bn) for the business. That figure represents the reported valuation of ABP, rather than a disclosed price for the stake being acquired. IFM secured the agreement ahead of competing interest from KKR, Apollo and Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, according to Splash 247.

The acquisition would transfer control of a network comprising 21 British ports, including Southampton, Immingham and the Humber complex. Splash 247 reported that ABP handles approximately one-quarter of Britain’s seaborne trade. Its operations cover bulk commodities alongside containers, vehicles and cruise shipping, with offshore energy infrastructure also forming part of the group’s activities.

The sale would close a Canadian investment chapter stretching back two decades. OMERS joined the consortium that took ABP into private ownership in 2006 in a £2.8bn transaction, while CPP Investments bought its holding in 2015. Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC and Kuwait’s Wren House Infrastructure remain minority investors. IFM, whose owners include Australian and British pension funds, manages roughly $96bn of infrastructure assets worldwide, Splash 247 said.

The ownership agreement coincides with ABP’s continuing investment programme across its port network. Among those projects is a £500m development at Port Talbot in Wales, which Splash 247 reported on in August. ABP is advancing the scheme to create a manufacturing and assembly hub for floating offshore wind, adding an energy infrastructure development to the wider port operator’s investment plans.