DISPOSAL OF USA OPERATIONS FOR US$107.8 MILLION
Associated British Ports Holdings PLC (ABPH), the UK’s largest port operator, today (Thursday 25 May) announces that it has sold its entire USA operations, AMPORTS Inc. to an affiliate of Lincolnshire Equity Fund III, L.P., for a consideration of US$107.8m (£57.2m), comprising US$100m (£53.1m) in cash together with US$7.8m (£4.1m) relating to the assumption of certain finance leases by the purchaser.
AMPORTS Inc. handles vehicle imports and exports and provides auto-processing services at 5 port locations in the USA. For the year ended 31 December 2005, AMPORTS Inc. made a profit before interest of US$10.5m (£5.7m) on turnover of US$71.1m (£39.1m). As at 31 December 2005, AMPORTS Inc. had net assets of US$88.2m (£51.3m), excluding ABPH intra-group debt, cash and the finance leases being assumed by the purchaser.
The sale of AMPORTS Inc. brings the total proceeds from disposals of non-core assets since 1 January 2000 to £400.6m, and is a continuation of ABPH’s strategy of disposing of non-core assets, leaving the group to focus on operating its UK ports.
Commenting on this transaction, Bo Lerenius, Group Chief Executive of ABPH, said:
“This is a further example of ABPH successfully executing its strategy of extracting value from non-core assets for the benefit of shareholders, allowing the group to focus on operating its UK ports business”.
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